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For the eleventh day of Christmas... a story about courage, even if it's only a little bit.

In process: Twelve days of Christmas
On deck: Poliwhirl/Mantine/Cofagrigus, Scoliopede/Herdier, Tornadus/Thundurus/Landorus, Victini, Toxicroak

Furret and Golett

What to do? The Furret stretched as she got up from sleeping, then peered around to check her surroundings. It was a room inside a ruins, but it was surprisingly intact. On the stone walls, there were inscriptions that she couldn't read. In the middle of the room, there was a folding table and a similar chair making a workstation. The Furret's Trainer was sitting there at a computer, studying scans she had made throughout the ruins. Why now? They were supposed to be exploring around and making records to study later. That's what she'd understood. The Furret went over and rubbed her head against her Trainer's hand.

“Hi Caper,” the scientist said, petting her but not looking. “Wait a bit; I'm reviewing to see where to check over again.”

Wait? Caper scratched her head, not sure what to do while waiting. She wanted to be exploring. For a moment, she spent some time grooming to make sure that her long fur was straight. That took not long enough, so she wondered if she could look around on her own. She got scared easily, especially on her own, but it would be boring just to wait. Maybe if she didn't go far. This room was in a corner, so there was only one door out. In the doorway, she peered out.

Some areas of this place were in worse shape, walls that had been broken down. It was fairly clean in most places, but Caper could smell other Pokemon around. None she recognized, but with the many smells, there must have been many kinds. There was an interesting smell coming from across the hall, something she'd noticed coming in. However, that area didn't have a door that her Trainer could open yet, not even from the big room in the middle. There was a hole in the wall, but the Furret hadn't gone through there yet.

Looking over and seeing her Trainer still at work, Caper decided to check out that hole. Maybe she could find a way to open a door from inside. The scientist would appreciate that. Hoping to please her, Caper hopped away from the door and went to the hole. One of the blocks that made up the wall had crumbled here, scattering debris all over the hall. This left a hole a little over a foot high and wide. She was able to slip through and into the hidden room.

It was dark in here, away from the scientist's lantern. Caper sniffed around; the air and dust was less disturbed in here. However, there was a smell of a Pokemon close by, one that might be a Ground type. Another smell was that like the computer her Trainer used, some kind of human electronics. It was an odd contrast to the smell of the ruins, but maybe another human did work in here.

To be careful, she checked out the Pokemon smell first. It was in the far corner of the room, unmoving. Caper crept closer, watching for signs that it might pounce on her. It was bipedal, humanoid in form with a big round body. Even as she moved around, it didn't budge. When she was within a few feet of it, she could make out a smell of old clay. Maybe it wasn't a Pokemon? That, or it was asleep.

Since it might be asleep, she moved quietly to one of the doors leading out. Like the other side, it had no handle or hinges. She put her forepaws against it and pushed, finding it firmly in place. Caper went to the other door and pushed on it too, but then she felt a tingling on her spine much like when she encountered Pokemon without a solid form. Maybe a Ghost? But when she looked back around the room, there was only that clay Pokemon. It was glowing with a violet light, its eyes opening and surveying the area.

Caper bolted through the small hole, back at her Trainer's side in seconds. She coiled her long tail around the chair and kept her front near the woman's feet. What was that? She hoped it wasn't hostile, but knew that it might not like this intrusion on its territory.

“What's wrong?” her Trainer said, pausing in her work to stroke her quivering back. Then they heard a sound like moving rocks. “Oh, did one of the doors open?” She picked up her light and went to the door.

Timid but not wanting to make her friend face potential danger along, Caper followed after. In the hallway, they were met with that clay Pokemon. It examined them for a second, then made a salute. Good, it wasn't hostile. But what did it want?

“Another Golett, but you're different,” the scientist said, going up to it. The dark blue Pokemon stayed there, watching. “Must be an alternate coloration. Some collectors might like you, but I'm not sure if you have a purpose in being here.”

Caper went closer as well, but stayed at the side of her Trainer. The odd Golett then pointed down the way it had come before heading back that way. Thankfully, her Trainer decided to go along and explore instead of doing her computer work again. In the large main room, they found that the door that had been shut tight was now open, leading to the room Caper had just been in. The Golett went straight to the panel of electronics and began making beeping noises at it.

“My goodness, what's a room like this doing in a ruins?” the woman said in awe, looking over a place that could have come from the university she worked at. “This place has been sealed off from people for thousands of years. It, it couldn't be from you Pokemon?”

There was a clicking sound that startled Caper, making her puff her fur up and crouch on the ground. But she forced herself to stay, not wanting to leave her Trainer alone in a strange room with a strange Pokemon. However, it turned out to be a device in the room, lifting a cover to reveal another device behind it. The Golett went over to it, at first beeping. Then it made a fist crackling with electricity, as if it was going to punch the device. Instead, the Golett held it inside, causing sparks to power it up.

One of the walls became bright, turning into a screen. There was a human man there, dressed in loose gray clothing. “Welcome and …, ... to the … vault,” he said in a thick accent that was difficult for Caper to understand. Possibly her Trainer too. “Because of the … movement … our main location … we do not know how much longer we can hold out against the … … which destroyed our … and library … . They made it so we could not go back, but they wish to take our … back further, denying science and history. This place was … to hold and preserve … as well as warn against... … and the other Pokemon we made. The … Pokemon is an assistant and … to help whoever comes to find information stored here. We...” then the screen dimmed, the voice getting faint. There was a snap from the Golett's fist as it charged up again.

“Wait, is that power source charged with a Pokemon's electrical energy?” the scientist asked. “If it is, I have a portable generator we can use instead. Would you open your left hand for yes, and close it for now?”

The Golett looked at her a moment, then held its left hand open.

“I'll need to go put up my workstation and move it here,” she said. Then she picked Caper up and hugged her. “Don't fret, Caper. This could be a monumental discovery! An archive of ancient science and history, maybe even answers to the mysteries of why humans are here.” She laughed as she carried her Pokemon back to the other room. “Did you wake the Golett archivist up? I know I saw you sneaking off to look around. Thank you; you're finding your courage.”

That was finding her courage? Caper didn't think she'd done anything big. But her Trainer seemed really happy, so it had definitely been a good thing.

...

Golett B2/W2 entry: Ancient science fashioned this Pokemon from clay. It's been active for thousands of years.

Emerald entry: A Furret has a very slim build. When under attack, it can squirm through narrow spaces and get away. In spite of its short limbs, it is very nimble and fleet.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Jellicent/Pawniard/Cranidos: That did seem like it was part of a bigger story. Also, why do you not need new story ideas? ClicheStorm's almost over, A Million Thoughts was a oneshot, and you have less than a hundred Pokemon left to cover with this. I wonder what you'll do after your current projects are done...

Alomomola/Vigoroth/Darmanitan: Random names FTW! Yeah, I realize it's an acronym for Alomomola and Darmanitan, but it's still random. And that Vigoroth reminded me of my brother.

Golett/Furret: Very nicely done. I like how timid Furret was.

Also, for your year-end review, you put you had done 8 shinies when you actually did 10. Just pointing it out.

Could I request a Bidoof/Anorith/Heatran story when you're done with this? That should be random.

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

Well missed another day. Still, getting twelve stories done in two weeks is pretty good. And about my on-going projects, I also have two other big fanfics on hiatus that I want to get back to. Neither are Pokemon, though.

For the twelfth day of Christmas... a story about love. Also, an unexpectedly hard one to write.

She entered the room and wrinkled her nose as the atrocious smell. At the other end of the room, there were six Pokemon playing around. A Vileplume was in the center, bouncing her large red petals around and sending small yellow pollen clouds out every time she did. Dancing around her were three Trubbish, dragging around what seemed to be trails of trash. Off to the side, there was an Amoonguss, swaying and slowly turning the mushroom caps on his arms. A fourth Trubbish was rummaging in a waste bin, tossing out things it didn't want.

She shook her head. “Geez, did you have to say I could work with anything? Not like I would deny it, but... who'd come if it wasn't for the competition?” She went closer to the playing Pokemon, getting some of them to pay attention. “So it looks like we're working together for a few months. I'm Jennifer, Master Coordinator and theater star. I'm going to put you in a wonderful show. How's that sound?”

“Vowoooo!” Vileplume said, bouncing vigorously to agree. The Trubbish all stopped what they were doing and jumped too (although they sounded like trash bags being tossed around doing that). Meanwhile, the Amoonguss just swayed and watched her, not as excited.

“Well it's good that most of you are eager to go,” Jennifer said. “So let's figure out what you all can do. Looks like you could do some dancing with direction. Can any of you sing?”

“Gaaaooo trub trub,” one of the Trubbish replied, then started to sing. Before long, the other Trubbish sang too. The one at the waste bin even hurried over to join the chorus. It wasn't a pretty song, but wasn't bad either.

If only it didn't increase the smell and give it an addition like hot grease. Maybe it would help when they had the stage to separate the Pokemon from the audience. “We can work with that,” she said, putting a hand to her head. It seemed stuffy in here now that the smell was so thick. “We can do a song and dance show, although I don't know if to clean you all up fully or,” she yawned, “maybe polish you up to not look so...” she fell asleep before she even realized she was tired.

-+-

The next time Jennifer saw the Pokemon she was using for the competition, it was a week later. Apparently the person who had assigned this group to her had neglected to mention that she'd need a face mask to avoid breathing in the aerial toxins that every single one of them could produce. Coming back into the room, she found that it was had gotten more damp and littered with trash. Had they been stealing trash from other rooms to do that? And why didn't the janitors do something about it?

“Okay, my actors, do you remember me?” Jennifer asked. “We lost a number of days, but there's still time to get an act together. Now while I was waiting on being released from the hospital, I found some songs we could work with. I'll let you listen to them while we work on the dancing part. So then,” she waved a hand through the air; it turned yellow. “Was the pollen this bad last time? I don't remember it like this.”

The Vileplume laughed. In the wake of her every movement, the plumes of yellow pollen moved and built. Wanting to work in clear air (as she wasn't sure even the face mask would be enough, Jennifer brought the Poison Pokemon troupe outdoors for practice. She just hoped that no one would blame her if there was a sudden increase in the Oddish population over the next few months.

It took a while to start on her dance plans, since the Vileplume and Trubbish wanted to play dance instead. It was always the five Pokemon playing together, as the Amoonguss stayed to the side. Since the show wouldn't go as smoothly if that continued, Jennifer went over to the large mushroom Pokemon. “There's no need to be shy,” she said. “I think you would be a great part of the show. We'll have you and the Vileplume as leads, since you're both the same size, and the smaller Trubbish can act as a chorus. How do you dance?”

For a moment, the Amoonguss just stared at her. Then he backed up and bowed his head. To the music currently playing on the portable stereo, the Amoonguss swayed and twirled in a dance. He was particularly expressive with the smaller caps on his arms, even if his face didn't change much. He was actually quite talented, something Jennifer wouldn't have guessed.

She clapped her hands for him. “Very nice! You could be quite a star. Hmm?” She shook her right hand, which felt odd. Yellow pollen came off in large puffs. “I hope this pollination passes by the time the competition starts. Come on, Amoonguss, work with the rest of us.”

“Oshu,” the Amoonguss replied, then shuffled over to the other Pokemon. Mostly, he looked at the Vileplume.

The Trubbish group all cheered, happy to have another Pokemon to play with. On the other hand, the Vileplume went still on seeing the Amoonguss come up. They stared at each other as if they were familiar with each other, but not in a good way. The Vileplume then turned away, frowning.

Great, she had in-fighting and since she didn't know these Pokemon that well, she had no idea what to do about it. “Please, can we get along? We could make an great show and you two would be,” she had to think about it a moment, “a cute couple on stage.” Jennifer wasn't sure cute was the right word to describe a really smelly flower and an oversized mushroom, but maybe someone would think of it that way. “Come on, Trubbish, you all can sing while they dance.”

The Trubbish were happy to help and changed their path so that they circled around both the larger Pokemon. Jennifer could manage to get the Vileplume and Amoonguss to dance separately or with the Trubbish, but not at the same time. But, perhaps another day. She had to cut off the practice sooner than she wanted because the odd sensation in her hand turned into paralysis over that whole arm.

-+-

For the rest of the practice sessions, Jennifer arrived with long gloves, a long sleeved dress, full stockings, a long scarf, and the face mask. As it turned out, the pollen the Vileplume was producing prodigiously right now could inflict paralysis with sufficient skin contact. She asked about the Amoonguss so she didn't end up missing more days trying to work with them. It turned out that its spores could cause nausea. As she already had the face mask, she was protected.

Getting the Vileplume and the Amoonguss to work together took up much of her time. For a long time, she refused to look at him. Jennifer found her stubborn, so she tried convincing the Amoonguss to do something. “What are you two arguing about?” she asked. “If you're arguing. Were you really a couple or something?”

“Fooo,” he said.

“Or maybe I'm thinking it's some soap opera,” Jennifer said. “It's not like you're having some lover's feud that could be fixed with giving her some flowers and an apology will work. You're not that kind of Pokemon.”

The Amoonguss gave her a long look, so she went to try teaching the Vileplume the dance moves she wanted her to use. So far, she preferred bouncy moves that showed off her large petals (but also spread lots of pollen). Jennifer wanted her to do some twirls too. Then they got interrupted by the four Trubbish, who all chattered and threw various small flowers at the Vileplume. The Amoonguss was a short ways behind them; he threw a group of cornflowers at her.

“What did I start?” she said, putting her hand to her cheek. But then the Vileplume smiled and ran over to hug him. His longer arms worked for that better than her little ones, but seeing them with her flower and his cap tilted back to be close was cute. Not just them, but the Trubbish were extra excited and bounced around them.

Maybe they weren't the dirty and dumb Pokemon she'd thought them to be.

…

Emerald entry: In seasons when it produces more pollen, the air around a Vileplume turns yellow with the powder as it walks. The pollen is highly toxic and causes paralysis.

Amoonguss B2/W2 entry: It moves the caps on both arms and does a dance to lure prey. It prefers damp places.

Trubbish Black entry: Inhaling the gas they belch will make you sleep for a week. They prefer unsanitary places.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

My goodness, it's been a long time. Sorry about that. I had a huge writer's block in the latter half of January, then lots of things to finish when I got past that. But then while watching some Marti Gras cooking on TV, I thought of the image at the very end of this, so I had to write that up as fast as I could, lol. Plus, this thread could use some voodoo.

Also... sixth gen came so fast! Can I manage to get all the rest done before the rest become available to me? Will I have to move the Magikarp story again to fit in the index? Who knows?

I do have the Ghost type complete! Wheee!!! Actually, right before fifth gen came out, I had only Mismagius for a Ghost. And this thread now has 100 Water types... but is not done with that type since that's the only type with 100+ entries.

The Poliwhirl ran along the beach, regretting his decision to sneak away from his Trainer to explore on his own. Seeing a water-soaked log in his way, he jumped and tried to scatter sand behind him. He could have done well enough in his own training if he'd just stuck to the beach. But no, he had to go into the cave that had large steel chains on it. It had only been one chain arranged in a cross shape with a lock in the center, no door or anything. He had assumed it couldn't be anything really bad, no situation that he couldn't just jump out of.

Instead, he'd woken up that thing. He was hesitant to call her a Pokemon, even though she smelled vaguely like a Shuppet he had run across once. She seemed to be made of gold, some large container with a human-like countenance on her top... front, whatever she was. But ghostly arms reached out of her dark insides, a seemingly countless amount. “You must be tired from running so far,” she said gleefully, from much closer than the Poliwhirl wanted. “Come rest with me and you will find eternal peace. Just ask my darling friends.” She tried to snatch him up.

Thankfully, the slippery oil that his skin produced kept her from getting a good hold on him; he was able to get right out with a hop ahead and to the right. But then a strange Lopunny that seemed to have dead eyes tried to get him instead. There was a whole bunch of those strange dead-eyed Pokemon with the ghostly Pokemon. Despite that, they seemed just as fast as they would normally be, if not faster. They were covered in dust and cobwebs, like they hadn't moved for a long time.

He considered headed for the ocean instead, to try getting away by swimming and diving. Would they follow him underwater? When he glanced over at the see, he noticed a graceful figure jumping over the waves. The Pokemon disappeared under the moonlit sea briefly, but then leapt out high and flew over the beach, alongside the chase. It was a Mantine, with a single Remoraid trying desperately to hang onto his belly so as not to fall onto the dry sand. “Ahoy there!” the Mantine called. “Somebody lured that Cofagrigus out, excellent work. Keep ahead, sailor, run for the fire!” Then he wheeled back to land in the water (likely to the relief of the Remoraid).

Excellent work? The Poliwhirl couldn't see how this would be good, as that thing, the Cofagrigus, she was trying to trap him inside herself to become like the dead-eyed Pokemon. Hopefully the Mantine had some plan at the fire to deal with her. The Poliwhirl continued running while the Cofagrigus laughed and kept pursuing him. “They couldn't do anything before, they couldn't do anything now,” she said.

As he got closer to the bonfire on the beach, he became less certain of what the Mantine was thinking. There seemed to be a party of some sort going on there, with a great many humans and Pokemon dancing to unusual primitive music. Most seemed to be normal people, but there were a few that were dressed even more strangely than the Cofagrigus looked. Still, he didn't have a better idea and the Mantine had come back out of the water to fly around the party.

The Poliwhirl ran right into the warmly lit area, disrupting several of the dancers. But he didn't cause as much disruption as the Cofagrigus and her followers did. The dancers closest to that point yelled and started to run off. However, he was getting worn and the sand had been slowly sipping away his moisture. The Poliwhirl turned around once close to the fire, clenching his white fists high. The Cofagrigus shone brilliantly by the fire's light, intensifying the insane look on her face. While she waved him to come closer to her, her dead-eyed followers came into view as well, a whole twelve dusty Pokemon.

“Hold!” a woman's voice called out sharply, silencing the musicians and causing everyone there to stop. Then she threw something right in front of the Cofagrigus: a simple gold bead necklace.

It didn't seem like much, and a Pokemon her shape shouldn't be able to make use of a necklace (except maybe as bracelets). But her expression quickly turned to that of delight as she snapped it up with a ghostly hand. “Delicious, gold! Maybe I would spare you...” she brought it within her body, but before long he eyes went wide. “Wait, this isn't gold. It's not even suitable to eat.”

The woman who had thrown the necklace came towards them. The Mantine followed, starting to hover in the air just behind her. “Sweet mercy, bringing this misled Pokemon to us along with another well suited to taming her,” she said. She was one of the stranger dressed humans, with sort dress made of some animal skin with brown fur, a necklace and headdress of various bones (including some small skulls), and white feathers acting as trim in many places. “Poliwhirl, bring forth your power of hypnosis against this Cofagrigus.”

While the woman was a stranger to him, she had such confidence and authority in her poise and voice that it didn't seem like a good idea to disobey. He had considered using that against the Cofagrigus at first, but she had risen her followers before he could be successful. On his stomach, he had a transparent layer of skin that showed a spiral of inner tissues underneath. By manipulating his muscles and internal fluids, he could make the spiral appear to vibrate and turn in a hypnotic fashion.

It started to work quickly. “I should... punish you...” she said at first, but her words grew less aggressive as she became entranced by him. Her ghostly arms lowered, then retreated into her golden shell as she relaxed.

“My friend, keep him in place,” the woman said.

“Right-o, captain,” the Mantine said, flipped the ends of his fins and summoning a spiral of water around the Cofagrigus. It caught hold of her like a whirlpool, even lessened her hold over her minions. The dead-eyed Pokemon had stopped in place, waiting for some order.

“Hwa wat?” the Cofagrigus said, sounding weary.

The woman went right up to the strange Pokemon, without any fears. She pushed a hand towards the Cofagrigus. “Sleep and heed my words,” the woman said. And with her orders, the Cofagrigus completely shut herself and went still, floating in the air. “You have pulled many within your coffin, dear lady, I suspect more than you have here. There are those who would kill you, but the spirits of my ancestors tell me that you can be changed with more discipline. I can help you find a more satisfying life as long as you follow my words. First, cast off your hold over these mummies that you have created. You don't need them any more.”

“You aren't here to destroy me,” the Cofagrigus said in her sleep. “I will obey. I cast off my hold on these mummies.” A hand extended out of her coffin-shell for a moment as if throwing something away.

Then the dead-eyed Pokemon seemed to wake up. Some dropped onto the sand in exhaustion, while others looked around in confusion and fear. One of the normally-dressed humans ran up to the Lopunny and hugged her, causing that Pokemon to burst into tears and hug her tightly. It seemed amazing; those were ordinary Pokemon, but the Cofagrigus had complete control over them before. And he could have ended up like them if he hadn't been able to slip out of her grasp repeatedly.

“Now, you will become one of my Pokemon so I can properly train you,” the woman said. Not once she had turned her eyes from the Cofagrigus since starting this, even as she held a hand out behind her. “Pass me a fresh Pokeball and one of the crowns.”

Another woman tossed the items to her, although the Mantine knocked the ball in the proper direction so his Trainer could catch it. The Poliwhirl worried that it wouldn't work; she was a powerful Pokemon, after all. Although the whirlpool was still in effect, he kept up his hypnotic power just in case. But the woman was able to catch the Cofagrigus without a problem. The ghost Pokemon didn't even seem to struggle.

Once she had her, the woman turned to him and smiled. She knelt down and gave him a hug. “The spirits must have directed you tonight, to help save this troubled Pokemon and her victims. Thank you for your assistance.”

“Yeah, yeah!” the Mantine said, dipping some to brush a fin on the Poliwhirl's head as he flew by. “We were going to go after her tonight and it would have been much more dangerous on her turf. You're great!”

“Well I didn't mean to rescue anybody,” the Poliwhirl said. But the Mantine just laughed at him and the woman, probably not understanding him, put a light crown on his head. The others at the dance party cheered and gave him a bunch of the bead necklaces, much like the gold one the Cofagrigus had tried to eat. While they hailed him as some kind of hero, he felt embarrassed that this had all happened because of his mistaken pride in trying to train himself. He slipped away from the party as soon as he could, heading back to where his Trainer should be.

…

Poliwhirl Emerald entry: Its body surface is always wet and slick with an oily fluid. Because of this greasy coating, it can easily slip and slide out of the clutches of any enemy in battle. Water 1

Cofagrigus Black entry: It has been said that they swallow those who get too close and turn them into mummies. They like to eat gold nuggets. Ghost 5

Mantine Soul Silver entry: Swimming freely in open seas, it may fly out of the water and over the waves if it builds up enough speed. Water/Flying 2

…

The Poliwhirl's Trainer was slightly drunk when they finally met up. “Man, how'd you get so many beads?” he asked. “Did you impress a lot of girls?”

Elsewhere, the Cofagrigus had woken up near a large box of Marti Gras bead necklaces. “Aw, now I don't have any more mummy friends,” she said, picking up a handful. Then she giggled and took some more. “But now I have so many pretty shinies! Pretty pretty!” She then began to dance around until her new Trainer told her to stop for a bit and give out the beads instead.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

It was a quiet day in Driftveil. The weather was nice, with only a few clouds in the sky. Nothing big was going on; the construction crews didn't seem as active today, giving residents a slight break from the constant noise they had lived with for the past few months. Some people even felt like nothing bad could happen today. Which of course meant that something had to happen.

Without warning, intense winds blasted the town from the east. Branches were knocked off trees, half-finished construction projects were ripped apart to put the crews behind for weeks, a few older houses were blown over, and unlucky pedestrians were thrown into walls, onto the street, or into each other. Behind the roar of the gale, a hearty laugh might have been heard. Tornadus was at play again.

“Woooo, more buildings go bye-bye!” the cloudy Pokemon said. He whipped his tail around to keep the winds going over the town a little longer. “You can't build anything of permanence, just accept that. So build more things that fall over faster!” He caused a cyclone of air to form around himself as he paused to look over Driftveil, wondering if he should stay here longer or move onto another town. Surprise runs were the best.

Then he felt a call from his sibling Landorus. He wasn't sure what she'd want, maybe just to say hello. Tornadus blasted off across the sky over Driftveil again, causing a violent and chaotic wind flow to wreck more havoc, then headed off to where Landorus usually was.

Although he liked setting up huge gusts in his wake, Tornadus did slow down as he approached the fields. Landorus tended to get furious if he or Thundurus messed up farms that she was watching over, and she could kick both their butts like that. True, he didn't get beaten up as badly as Thundurus in those battles, but it was safer not to vex her. There ended up being only a modest wind when he landed in the area.

Landorus was at her usual shrine, guarding the crops and farmers there as she usually did. She waved her tail at him, thankfully in a good mod. “Hello, brother. It's good to have your gales giving power to the land again.”

“Uh yeah, hey,” he said, waving back. “I'm just happy to be free again; they had a really nasty seal this time on us.”

“Did they?” she asked, seeming curious.

Tornadus made a rude gesture with his hands. “Yeah, sealed us up in clay pots this time, and then threw them into Chargestone Cavern. I was so itchy the whole time from all that static. Once the seal was weakened, I pulverized those pots and got straight out of that place.”

“That would be rotten for you to live with,” Landorus said. “Strange that they put Thundurus in there too. About him, I tried to call him earlier, but he didn't respond.”

“Maybe he's out having fun in freedom, as usual,” Tornadus said. “I wouldn't worry about it.”

She shook her head. “I know you wouldn't, not this soon. But I am concerned. I haven't felt his bolts touch the ground yet even though I know both of you got free. Strange, isn't it? And I had been waiting on him to help start a fire in an area that needs its undergrowth cleared.”

“Oooo, a fire?” he said, interested. “I love fires! But, I can't start them like he does.”

“Right, so we need to find him,” Landorus said.

“I'll go look!” Tornadus volunteered enthusiastically, thinking that it would be great fun to use his winds to whip of a huge fire with Thundurus. “Be back in no time!” He then rushed off into the sky, causing a sharper wind to hit the area.

Landorus raised an arm over some more delicate crops, keeping them from being bent in this wind. “I knew you'd do it once fire got mentioned,” she said.

Meanwhile, Tornadus raced all over the land of Unova, searching for his brother. He thought about racing close to the ground, to make the winds fly along with him. Then, he figured it'd be faster to stick to the sky and search for the clouds that usually clustered around Thundurus. Finding him sooner meant playing with wildfires sooner. And after being crammed in a pot with lots of electricity around for at least a decade, Tornadus couldn't wait to initiate a major disaster again.

Heading to the largest cloud mass in the area, he searched the sky for a while but found no trace of Thundurus. It was odd. Tornadus flew down and searched the ground for several minutes; his winds stirred up the thunderhead and made intense rain and thunder come. But not lightning, at least not to the ground yet. There weren't even any charred stumps and houses around, so he began to think that he was in the wrong place.

Then he found Thundurus, sulking in a cloudy pile on the ground for some reason. His tail was curled close around his body and his head was lowered. What was up with him? They were free now, it was time to celebrate with storms and arson! “Hey, there you are!” Tornadus said, flying in close. “Come on, Landorus wants us to scorch the countryside! Actually, she just wants you to burn some undergrowth, but she told me and it would be much more fun to create a huge fire! I don't remember where... actually, I don't think she told me. So come on, we've gotta go back to her and find out where to burn stuff.”

“Go away and leave me be,” Thundurus said, sort of angry but not even scowling.

Tornadus flipped himself upside down, hoping that might amuse his brother. “Hey, hey, what's wrong with you today? We just got back our freedom! Besides, I know even you must have hated those clay pots too.”

“Did you hear anything in there?” he asked, not looking at him.

“Nope,” he said, righting himself. “The latent electricity in the area filled my head so much... argh!” He put his hands to the side of his head, but then whirled around Thundurus. “Come on, let's go burn stuff and make huge storms at the same time.”

Tornadus quickly dodged the bolt. “Aw, come on, you weren't even trying,” he said. “What is wrong with you?” When he wouldn't answer, Tornadus started poking him on the side of the head. “I'm not gonna leave you be until you tell me! Come on, come on! What is it? What is it?”

“Cut it out,” Thundurus snapped, trying to shove him away. But that was better than seeing him sulk.

“Teeeeeeeeeeelllllllll mmmmmmmeeeeeeeee,” he replied, pushing him back playfully.

“Gah!” he crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look away. But eventually he gave in to Tornadus' poking. “Okay, okay, if you'll stop that. I think I'm in love.”

“Oh, that,” Tornadus said. Then he poked Thundurus one more time. “Hey, but I understand that!”

“No you don't!”

Yes I do! I've been in love before, you know.”

Thundurus finally looked at him, but in order to glare at him. “That was with a windmill.”

“He-ey, it still counts!” Tornadus insisted indignantly. “I never did knock it over and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I like windchimes, but they're nothing compared to that. Anyhow, you're taking this too seriously. It'll bug you for a few days, and then it'll pass like some bad cold. You'll feel better if you go do something. So let's go burn stuff!”

“It's not like that,” he said, seeming dispirited again. “I don't know if I should...”

Tornadus flew around him again, but this seemed to be serious. It wasn't like Thundurus to be like this. So, he had to fix things now. “Well then how is it like?” he asked. He held his hand out. “See, even your rain isn't as lively anymore. What is it?”

“I could hear things outside the clay pot,” Thundurus said, reminiscing. “I could even talk to the Pokemon out there. At first I just spooked them, triggering a large spark when they didn't expect it.”

“That sounds fun,” Tornadus said. “For you, anyhow.”

“It was for a while, but then, she showed up. She was just a Klink then, but she started talking to me. I remember what she first said to me: 'The imbalance of the electrical systems of the cavern suggests that some part of the location is the source of a great deal of boredom and frustration and in the interests of keeping a uniformity of contentment in the community system, I seek a method of addressing this imbalance.' She has a really nice voice, with just enough electrical accents to be wonderful.”

Tornadus tilted his head. “A Klink?”

“Well she's a Klang by now. She kept coming to talk to me and 'fix things', but I got to enjoy our talks and miss her on days she didn't come.”

“Klangs are big and hard with lots of gear teeth things that always move,” Tornadus said. “It'd be hard to hug one. I mean, I could hug the windmill, but hugging a Klang would be even more awkward.”

“I don't care about that!” Thundurus said. “I liked talking to her. It even got to the point where I didn't mind being inside a clay pot.”

His eyes went wide. “Really? Sheesh, there is something wrong with your head.”

“Maybe,” he said, seeming sulky again. “She was the one who weakened our seals, you know. I told her we were put in there because people found us troublesome, but she still did it because she said she wanted to see me in person. I don't know if she's in love with me or why she did it.”

“Well then why didn't you talk with her when you got out?” Tornadus asked. “I mean, I hate that place, but it's somewhere you'd be comfortable with.”

“I would've, but you scared her off!” he said, back to being mad (really mad this time). “At least, I think you did. Besides, how can I go back to see her? I'm not even sure I'd be able to figure out which Klang she is, or if she'd want to see me now that she knows that I wasn't kidding about who I am and why I was in that pot.” And now he was sulky.

“Hmph. Well you're not going to find out unless you go!” Tornadus then grabbed hold of Thundurus arm and tried to fly him away from his sulking spot.

“Hey, hey! What're you doing?”

“I'm gonna drag you back there since you're chickening out about going yourself.”

“F-fine, but let me go,” Thundurus said, throwing his hold off but following still.

When they landed outside of the entrance to Chargestone Cavern, Landorus was there to meet them. “I'm sure there's some importance to calling me away from the farm,” she said sternly.

Tornadus pushed Thundurus towards her. “Yeah, this guy's lovesick, so we're gonna drag him in here to meet with the object of his adoration. Only it isn't an object this time, since he likes a Klang.”

“I see,” she said.

“Why did you have to get her involved?” Thundurus hissed.

“Hey, I’m not stupid,” Tornadus said. “I'll go back in there to help you look, but only with the both of you to draw the electricity away from me.”

“You're really going to help?” he asked, uncertain.

“What's it look like?” he said, heading into the cavern.

Landorus took Thundurus by the arm and tugged him to follow. “That's sweet,” she said. “Let's go find this Klang so you can introduce her to me. It must be an interesting story if he's entering this place willingly.”

Tornadus turned to them and floated backwards a short ways. “So the plan is, we'll just talk to a bunch of them until you recognize her voice, since you love that so much. Or maybe she'll recognize yours, we'll just have to see. No point being upset about something that may or may not be true; decide on being upset or ecstatic when you hear the truth, right?”

“Oh my lord, he actually sounds intelligent for once,” Thundurus said, making the other two laugh.

He waved it off. “Well don't expect that to last or anything.”

“Good to know that,” Landorus said sarcastically.

As it turned out, their escape had startled the Klang who had let them go. But she did seem glad to talk to Thundurus again. It might just work out this time. But more importantly, Thundurus was in a better mood to start fires and storms with Tornadus, making things immensely better.

…

Tornadus B2/W2 entry: In every direction it flies, creating winds so powerful, they blow everything away.

Thundurus Black entry: Countless charred remains mar the landscape of places through which Thundurus has passed.

Landorus B2/W2 entry: From the forces of lightning and wind, it creates energy to give nutrients to the soil and make the land abundant.

Editor's Note: We here at POS do not recommend using arson for solving life's problems or for entertainment. Campfires are fine, but anything larger than that is not. Except maybe controlled fires to burn undergrowth. At any rate, please do not interpret this story as a suggestion to set fire to things. Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

Last edited by Ysavvryl; 15th February 2013 at 8:49 PM.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

I don't think that's quite as bad as some other words. But I went ahead and changed it to 'butts', because that seems like something that Tornadus would say. He has that kind of 'annoying little brother' attitude, lol.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Elsa- Waaah, it looks more evil than before *cries*. I told you that you shouldn't trust those shifty eyes. Posted 5:12:12 PM, Today

Bobby- Congrats on getting the Scolipede! Spikelord has always been your coolest Pokemon and now he's the best too! Btw, have you tried those new Harvest Song butter pretzels? They have an aura of buttery-ness and are sooo good. Posted 5:12:47 PM, Today

Jaike- Don't be so cocky, farm boy. There's no way you can control that Pokemon now. You were lucky in that he didn't get disqualified as a Whirlipede because he was just barely obeying your orders. I saw how it was impaling those wild Pokemon with just its neck claws. That bloody scene is just going to repeat itself and you're going to make a fool of yourself in the final round because of it. And I won't be the only one who won't ever let you live it down. Posted 5:13:57, Today
-Bobby- that ain't going to happen. Luke's going to win! Posted 5:14:12, Today
--Jaike- ugh. Spikelord would be doing the world a favor by impaling you. Posted 5:16:01, Today
---See More...

Jane- Well, he looks like a mighty fine Pokemon now. Could be a mite rough to get him to listen to ya now even though you were the one to catch him. I'm sure you can handle that. Just remember: you and your Pokemon are a team and thus ought to work together, even to bring a hotheaded member into line. Posted 6:45:32, Today

Luke looked over his profile page, feeling uncertain now. Earlier, he had posted a picture of his newly evolve Pokemon Spikelord in excitement, not even five minutes after the evolution happened. But things had soon gone wrong. The Scolipede didn't want to listen to him anymore. He kept picking fights, only using the moves Luke ordered if he felt like using them himself. Not only that, but he was using those move viciously, intentionally creating nasty wounds on his opponents. Even his poison seemed to be hurting them more. More than one had tried running away, and Luke had to recall Spikelord back to his Pokeball so that he didn't pursue them. If this kept up, then he would end up disqualified from the tournament.

At this stage, it would be particularly embarrassing. The Pokemon World Tournament stadium was currently holding a week-long major competition now, where over a hundred Trainers and teams had signed up. Being an upperclassman of the Trainers School in Striaton and one of its best battlers, Luke had been chosen to represent the school along with two others. Unfortunately, one of his rivals had been chosen as well. Jaike had lost big time on the second day, thus he had been dropped from the roster. He still stuck around to give Luke a hard time. Sometimes it seemed like he was determined to make sure he couldn't win since he had been dropped.

Luke could deal with Jaike. He tolerated the bully, reminding himself often that once they graduated in a couple of months, he'd never have to see Jaike again. However, dealing with Spikelord was a major problem. He couldn't change his team around this late into the tournament, but he only had the next morning to get the Scolipede to cooperate. If he kept fighting that aggressively in the stadium, then they would get disqualified for causing excessive harm. It would be a disgrace to his school, a potential for a lawsuit, and, due to the live worldwide broadcasts, a bad scene that millions of people would remember him for.

With so little time to deal with this and so much pressure to not fail, Luke declined on posting anymore and got offline. Another one of his Pokemon, a Herdier he called Valiant, gave him a curious look as their eyes met. “Aaaooo,” he whined, in a way that seemed concerned.

“I don't have long to do something,” Luke said, petting Valiant. “What should I do about Spikelord? It's nice that Aunt Jane believes in me, but I don't know what she expects out of me.”

He thought about it for the rest of the night, making it hard for him to get to sleep. But by morning, he did have an idea.

-+-

Luke went out to the forested area outside of Driftveil early that morning. As soon as he released Spikelord, the Scolipede started heading off into the trees to find something to fight off the path. But then Valiant ran in front of him, barking and blocking his way. Spikelord hissed and nipped at the air in a threat. That didn't intimidate the Herdier.

“Stay with us, Spikelord,” Luke said, in a strict voice much like the toughest teacher at school. “We've got more training to do today, but if you disobey or get out of line, Valiant's going to bark at you. This way.”

Spikelord didn't seem too happy about that, but he did follow after Luke. Valiant ran alongside the tall Bug, keeping an eye on him and ready to intervene. Really, that should have been obvious, Luke thought. His aunt had given him Valiant as a Lillipup, being the child of the Stoutland she used to keep Pokemon at a ranch from wandering off (among other duties). Valiant was his smartest Pokemon, able and willing to follow any order Luke gave him. Because of that, he would know when to bark a scolding without prompting.

The first battle they found was against a Deerling. Valiant stayed out of the battle, but barked sharply when Spikelord tried to bite it rather than poison it as Luke had asked for. While the Scolipede growled, he did use the move Luke wanted (although the time wasted was enough for the Deerling to attack Spikelord twice). It was working for a while to do this. Hopefully by the end of the morning, Spikelord would obey long enough for the tournament battles without Valiant's barks.

But during a battle against a Tranquill, Spikelord snapped when Valiant and Luke got after him for jabbing his spikes too hard into the bird. He tossed the Tranquill away, causing the bird to flutter off in fright while bleeding. Spikelord then swiped his tail at Valiant; the Herdier managed to jump out of the way, barking all the while.

“Stop it Spikelord!” Luke called. But the Scolipede didn't listen, instead dashing by both of them, swiping his tail at Luke. Luke's heart started pounding in a panic, although he didn't feel hurt. Glancing down, he saw that his shirt had been sliced through, but his Pokemon's tail hadn't touched his skin. That was too close.

Then Spikelord rushed by again, roaring before he grabbed Valiant off the ground and pierced him with his poisonous spikes. Valiant kept barking and squirming to get away, eventually getting dropped to the ground. Although his Pokeball noted him as being poisoned, the Herdier remained on his feet, defiant to the disobedient Scolipede.

“No Spikelord,” Luke said, still trying to get in control of the situation. “Stop! I'm your Trainer, so listen.” When the violent Pokemon growled and glared at Luke, he decided he had to stop this by force. “Valiant, Facade!”

Valiant howled, then rammed himself into the Scolipede. In his desperate state, the blow was enough to flip Spikelord backwards, onto his back and unconscious. The Herdier perked his ears up and looked back at Luke, his tail wagging. However, he was breathing hard and bleeding from the injury near his shoulder.

“Good work, but come back,” Luke said, calling Valiant back as well. Then he hurried away, back into Driftveil. Thankfully, the Pokecenter wasn't far from this entrance to town. But would that closeness be enough? He didn't know if Spikelord would be obedient or if Valiant would be capable of battling today. Either situation could disqualify him.

On being told that Valiant's injury might be bad, the nurse took the Herdier's Pokeball and examined it separately. Then he was taken in back for further care. Since he could only wait now, Luke left the Pokecenter building and went around back, on the road that led to the Gym. There weren't many other buildings this way, so not as many people came. Thus, he was able to release Spikelord and be fairly confident that no one else would be in trouble.

Spikelord seemed to know he was in trouble, somehow. He held his head low, hunched over rather than standing up on his hind four legs in pride. “Currrr,” he said in a somewhat piteous voice.

“Yes, you lost,” Luke said, still using a strict tone with him. “You disobeyed me and you lost. I've been training you for the past year and I’m the reason you've gotten to be so strong. Without me, you'd still be a Venipede. And if you don't get your act together soon and become obedient, then you're not going to get a chance to show anybody how strong you are.”

“Tch tch, scooooo,” Spikelord replied, even more pitiful. He didn't like the idea of not showing off.

“If Valiant isn't well when we get back into the Pokecenter, I'm withdrawing from the tournament,” he said. It wasn't an idle threat either. Yes, they had made it to the final day of competition. But it wouldn't be worth the risk if Valiant's injuries got worse. “And it will be because of you. Now I don't want to give up on you. I also don't want something like this to be repeated. Do you understand?”

Spikelord bowed his head even lower in shame.

Now for a test... he could put Spikelord in his Pokeball if he turned aggressive. “Good. Let's go back in there.” He then walked back to the Pokecenter, his Scolipede walking silently by his side.

Fortunately, the nurse told him that Valiant would be fine for battling later in the day And Spikelord kept to himself, not bothering others in the Pokecenter (even a girl who was speaking rather loudly into her Xtransciever). When Valiant was brought back out, Spikelord bowed to the Herdier, recognizing his victory. Valiant wagged his tail and gave him a friendly paw pat to show that all was forgiven. Seeing that, Luke felt confident that they could go into the tournament's finals without worrying about getting in trouble.

Another kind of 'creative process in progress' story. Also, possibly a reason for why Team Plasma wanted Victini. I haven't been able to play that scenario myself.

Is it good or bad that people can't always keep up? lol, I'm just happy writing these stories.

In process: Bidoof/Anorith/Heatran
On deck: Kyurem, Larvitar/Dwebble

Toxicroak and Victini

“Okay, we have to get rolling soon in order to be prepare the big summer blockbuster in time. The market researchers say that a superhero movie will be highly anticipated this year.”

“What kind of licenses do we have?”

“There's a few, but with the part years' successes, I think we can take a risk on something original. Further work from the researchers indicate that a partnership between a human and Pokemon would meet with a good reception... someone easy to relate to but 'cool', as would be said.”

“I have an idea! How's this?”

Dean was at home that night, kicking back in his old reliable recliner with some drinks and snacks nearby to watch the big game. Nobody had been able to come hang out and watch with him, aside from his best buddy of a Pokemon, a Toxicroak named Vance. No matter, as the alternative had been going over to a friend's house and dealing with that guy's girlfriend, who had the knack of nagging right during the best part. Vance himself was sprawled out on the floor, relaxing in his own way. Nothing was going to interrupt this night's entertainment.

Nothing, that is, save for a spontaneous blackout.

Swearing briefly, Dean got out of his chair. “Of all the rotten luck...” then he noticed a light streaming across the floor in another room. There was a soft thump as Vance flipped himself onto his feet and began hopping that way. Dean headed over too, pushing the curtain aside to see what was going on.

Much of his neighborhood was dark, so it wasn't just his problem. But above and past the roofs of the houses across the street, Dean could see a brightly lit tower standing out in the darkness. Every light in that place had to be on, so they had power still. Why not everyone else? This would take some investigation. And maybe some muscle to get things set right.

“Let's head out,” Dean said to Vance, getting a hearty croak in agreement.

“He goes off to fight someone who interrupted his show?”

“You didn't say it had to be a squeaky-clean good hero.”

“Right.”

“And he has to have a Toxicroak for that extra edge. Something unusual, sinister but not too much so, a Pokemon not normally paired with a hero. Toxicroak in particular because we have that really talented one in our Pokemon lots, but he doesn't get the screen time he deserves, in my opinion.”

“He is a good one. What kind of costume for the heroes, you think?”

“Goggles. And lots of belts.”

“Any actual clothing?”

“Of course, but the accessories have got to be right. Should be darker colored, to go with the Pokemon star. But it should be manly. you know, show off some muscles, grungy enough to not care about going into combat themselves.”

“Sounds good, but what's their goal?”

“To get the electricity back and get revenge for missing the game again. But there will be something big in the one powered building.”

Dean didn't know what the building was for; he'd ignored it previously as it seemed to be some boring office he wanted nothing to do with. Looking into it, it was still hard to tell what was going on in there. Mirrors lined the wall on the other side of the doors, only revealing brightly lit areas around it. He tried the doors, but they were locked. No issue. He had Vance bust up the glass with his fists, allowing them to step through the door frame and enter.

Once inside, the wall turned out to be simply there to disguise the first level and the massive amount of machinery there. A great many of them were clustered in large blocks, labeled 'Battery' in one area. If that was a battery, then it was a tremendous amount of power to be stored. Why was this place sucking up all the power? Whatever the reason was, he and Vance were going to put a stop to it.

Although there was a lot of noise, they were able to hear someone yelling. “What are you lazing about here for now? We were running through the initial test phases and you quitting means we've blown the power for the entire city! You're going to pay for this you, you little rat!”

“And what sort of mischief are you up to needing all this power?” Dean asked, coming up on the man, who seemed more like a sniveling rat than the one he was yelling at. Within some of the machinery, there was a small Pokemon with red fur and large ears. It was a surprise, since this Pokemon often seemed like little more than a rumor, the legendary Victini. But there he was, defiant in the face of the one holding him captive. While Dean noticed him, he opted to pretend not to care. The mirrored goggles helped, obscuring his identity and reactions. He punched one fist into the other. “You're causing a lot of people trouble, and we're here to punish rotten rats like you.”

Vance gave a long croak, hopping in place and readying himself for battle. But it wasn't a Pokemon that the scrawny guy called on. It was a battle robot, a strange one with two punching arms and three rolling feet. “What are you doing in here?” the scrawny guy said. “Security bot, get them out of the building!”

“Go for it, buddy,” Dean said, nodding to his Toxicroak.

Happy to have an unusual battle, Vance bounded forward and punched the robot on one of its arms. The robot responded by swinging its other spiked fist at him, but to no avail. Without taking a step away, Vance leaned and twisted his torso out of the punch, then rammed his claws into the robot's torso with the energy from his motions. He wouldn't be able to poison the robot, but his venom still gleamed on the injuries he had inflicted.

“Course he won't,” Dean said, knowing that Vance wouldn't hit a human even like this. Instead, Dean darted over and slammed his elbow into the scrawny guy's stomach. “Doesn't mean that I won't.”

Victini perked his ears up, then hopped up in spite of his chains and caused a shower of orange embers to absorb into Vance. Dean was worried for a moment of why this Pokemon would attack his when they were helping him, but it turned out to be good. With the borrowed power, Vance was able to punch the metal robot so hard that he cracked it into two. It toppled over in defeat.

“A robot?”

“An evil robot. Nobody could argue one of them getting beat up.”

“Sure, but there had better be more than one in the movie. When Victini powers up Vance, they need to be knocking around over a dozen of them.”

“Sounds good.”

“Then why is Victini in all that machinery?”

“It's a generator; I've heard some stuff about Victini that would make for a good evil scientist plot. We'd just have to get someone in to explain it to Dean, because he wouldn't care to learn otherwise.”

“Make sure the one explaining is a sexy female scientist then. A guy like that would pay attention to her.”

“You just like women in lab coats, don't you?”

“Anything wrong with that?”

“No, not really. About the generator...”

The scientist knelt down and picked up Victini, relieved to see him. “You're safe!” she said to the Pokemon. Then she smiled at Dean. “Thank you for getting him out of the generator. I didn't think they were really going to do that.”

“What were they doing with him?” he asked, although his interest was in showing enough sympathy to get her interested in going out with him later on. Women couldn't resist charm combined with concern, in his experience, and she had really fine legs.

“They were using him as the generator, to store up a tremendous amount of energy for their plans,” she explained. “Victini can theoretically produce an infinite amount of energy. He normally does this to increase the power and energy of Pokemon around him, such as he did for your Toxicroak, but they found a way to draw the energy directly from him to use as electricity.”

He frowned. “Sounds like trouble. What do they want that much energy for?”

“What would they want the power for?”

“I don't know yet. We can come up with something.”

“Robot army?”

“Could be. Or, how about a giant energy cannon? They'd use the threat of vaporizing entire cities in order to take over the world.”

“Or both?”

It was the three of them against an army of fighting robots. Victini hung in back, wearing dark shades to imitate Dean's goggles. Sometimes, he flung pillars of fire into their mindless foes, but mostly he hung back and gave Dean and Vance the power to be real heroes. Man and Toxicroak beat down all the robots in their path, leaving nothing but sparking scraps in their wake in a stunning display of fisticuffs and power.

Then they came to the center of the battle. Within the armor of a seemingly nondescript skyscraper, there was an enormous twenty story tall cannon shaft. According to their sources, it wasn't yet ready to fire. It could level this whole city within seconds. But looking up at the exposed weapon, Dean wasn't quite so sure that this cannon was inactive. There were certainly plenty more fighting robots ready to defend it.

“The things I do because of a lovely lady,” Dean said, partly mocking himself. Then he shrugged. “Let's get down to business, boys.”

The two Pokemon struck a pose, eager to keep on with the glorious battle.

“Sounds like quite a thriller.”

“It'd be a smash hit, I'm sure. Wish fulfillment and all.”

“How do we want to end it? A close victory would be great, but a twist would get everyone talking and coming back for more.”

“Right. Well how about this?”

“Let's get this settled,” Dean said, waving Vance towards the door. Filled with energy from Victini, Vance was moving about like a violet blur, slamming into the door hard enough to break it off its hinges in one clean shot. The trio then burst into the control room of the cannon. “All right, who's the chicken in charge here? We're here to knock some sense into you.”

However, there were only a trio of robots here, smarter models than they had been fighting on the way here. “Oh, Master, you've come.”

“What're you talking about?” Dean said. But then Victini darted away from them, getting onto the back of the largest chair in the room. The red Pokemon grinned at them, showing off his teeth. “Victini, what's gotten into you?”

“Master Victini is the one responsible for our creation,” the robot said.

“He wanted to have something exciting happen,” another robot added.

“Then you're the reason I've been running all over this city fighting robots and tracking down your lost energy, rather than having a good time watching sports?” Dean demanded to know of Victini, who he thought had been his ally. His fists clenched tight; even without the energy boosts, this would be a far more challenging battle than the robots.

“Victini is the evil mastermind?”

“Nobody would suspect the cute one.”

“True. But how's Dean and Vance supposed to win against the Pokemon of victory?”

“There's your close call final battle, where the outcome is uncertain.”

“And where the villain's motives are questionable.”

“It would be a surprise, causing a big stir. That's what sells movies.”

“I still don't know about that ending. But, we can figure some alternatives out.”

“Or leave it up to audience interpretation. People love that.”

“Maybe. Let's get the script started for this and figure out what kind of set the CGI crew needs to get started on.”

“This is going to be a great movie, I promise.”

“It had better be.”

…

Victini B2/W2 entry: When it shares the infinite energy it creates, that being's entire body will be overflowing with power.

Toxicroak HG/SS entry: Swaying and dodging the attacks of its foes, it weaves its flexible body in close, then lunges out with poisonous claws.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Oh my gosh, this story... most of these entries I can do first try, once I come up with an idea. This one? Took three revisions and has been the source of much frustration the past two weeks. I liked the plot idea, but keeping the focus on the Pokemon and keeping it as interesting as it was in my head was harder than usual. Now, I like how it turned out, but I am glad to be able to move on.

Speaking of which, I could use more requests. Particularly anything that involves Seadra, lol, as I somehow keep dropping it when working at other entries. Well, I'll put it on by itself, but I'll take any suggestions of another to pair it with.

Oh yeah, and I'm done with all fossil Pokemon!

In process: Kyurem
On deck: Larvitar/Dwebble, Seadra

Bidoof, Anorith, and Heatran

All eyes were on him as he walked to the front of the classroom. Why did it have to be him? He would have liked one of the smaller challenges of the school competition, just to get his new classmates acceptance. But no, the teachers had put him in one worth a lot of homeroom points, and straddle him with such a decision. He could go with one of the sets that his classmates would approve of. Or, he could go with the one he felt confident in winning with.

“I'll... go with the Bidoof and Anorith pair, please.”

Of course, they didn't like it. Why was he going with the bad pair? One was a common lazy pest of a Pokemon, the other was strange looking and none of them were sure what to do with it. The other pairs, any of them, had cooler or stronger Pokemon in them. This competition was going to be a loss and the reason their homeroom would fail was because of the new kid's dumb decision for this one challenge. Because of this antagonism, he found it easier to check in with the teach as quickly as possible on the challenge day, then head out with Pokemon to complete his task.

Because of the challenge, he was allowed to head out by train into the countryside, to where an old volcano sat. It was a weary old thing, worn down by age to an unimpressive shortness and heaving ash clouds in a halfhearted fashion. But it was the closest volcano and the competition committee of the private school really wanted a big fire challenge to go with their elemental theme. And their challenge here? A photo scavenger hunt which used pairs of the school's Pokemon to accomplish specific tasks. The fire was all in the location, which wasn't all that fiery on the outside. Or inside, if talk around town was true.

He put the camera on its strap on his shoulder securely, then called out the two Pokemon he'd chosen. Bidoofs were indeed very common, but he'd used this particular one and others before. Named Boris, this Bidoof had always been agreeable to work with and had a decent set of moves. Boris looked up at him and waved a paw on recognizing him. As for the other, Anoriths were ancient Pokemon risen from fossils, little guys who used their wings to fly through the water or flutter just above the ground. Ace the Anorith had been donated to the school and was used by one of the science teachers for lectures. While Ace wouldn't recognize him, or anyone save maybe that teacher, he always seemed obedient.

Walking along the paths, he spoke to the two Pokemon, explaining what they were doing and wondering aloud what to do about the scavenger hunt prompts. One of them wanted 'a flurry of fists and ashes'. That was easily solved by getting into a battle with one of the wild Machops and taking some pictures while directing Ace to use Fury Swipes, stirring up the gray ash lying on the ground with his white and red wings. Less easily solved was winning that battle; he had to use one of the given potions to heal up Ace afterward, so that he was okay with continuing.

Another prompt was 'signs of Pokemon', which he got by snapping a shot of Boris sniffing around a metallic feather and fresh footprints in a thick layer of ash; they were all avian in nature, which neither of his Pokemon could make. Boris also helped with 'a special old structure' when he helped clear rocks from an old shrine they found, tucked away on a side path. The student was quite interested in it, as it seemed to be to a local volcano spirit, one he didn't know of. Making a reminder in his notebook to ask about it, he called the two Pokemon to continue on. It seemed like a forlorn forgotten thing; they spent a few minutes picking up bits of trash to at least make it look nicer for when one of the other students came by.

One of the last prompts he found was 'opposed elements'. He had heard about a natural hot spring being located on this mountain, but having recently moved to this place, he hadn't heard where exactly. On the other hand, the local students would know where to find this probably easy location. He managed to find it by asking Boris to find some water, figuring that as a native dwellers of rivers and ponds, the Bidoof could do so. And it turned out to be the perfect time to catch the prompt. Within the steams from the small ponds, he could see flame spouts coming out of chimney-like structures poking out of the water. Maybe this volcano wasn't as lazy as people thought. He got a nice picture of the fire and water, but he would need one of the Pokemon in the shot for it to count as part of the hunt.

Kneeling down, he spoke to Ace, trying to coax the Anorith into swimming close to the fire spout. He was an opposed element himself, being formed of rocks of the earth, but made to live within the seas. Or even being an ancient creature living thanks to modern technology. Boris leapt into the water first, making a happy barking sound and splashing around. Since he was covered in fur, it seemed the water wasn't that hot. The student touched it with his fingers, then rolled up his pants legs to step into the pool himself. With this, Ace went into the steaming water as well. Directing him to swim near the fire spout and keeping Boris from joining in took several more minutes, but he eventually got a great shot.

He smiled on getting that. There were only two prompts left: 'a light within the dark' and 'looking from the volcano's peak'. With the photos he had gotten, he felt that he should get a good score for his homeroom (hopefully to his classmate's approval). But he could get some extra points for this challenge with non-prompt photos of the Pokemon he had as his exploring partners. So he let them play in the water, getting some fun shots like Ace clamping gently with his large mandibles to Boris' wide tail to ride after him.

They got to the other side of the shallow pool and found an entrance to the interior of the volcano. With that one prompt and a lantern in his equipment, he had expected that there would be caves around. He called the two Pokemon out of the water and headed inside with them, using the lantern to see where they were going. On the way, he spotted some black lumps of soft-looking black rock on the ground. When he held his hand over one of them, drips of water immediately turned to steam, hinting that it was incredibly hot. He instructed the two Pokemon to carefully avoid those seeing that. The tunnel was smaller than the hallways in school, but tall enough for him to walk without bumping his head in most places. Before long, it came to a natural set of stairs, heading deeper into the volcano. The lumps of cooling magma continued along the pathway.

At first, he thought he'd get the 'a light within the dark' by giving one of the Pokemon the lantern to pose in the tunnel. But then his mind was soon drawn away from the challenge by what he found on the wall. Unown script, accompanied by various illustrations of some volcano god. He checked through the camera's memory and noticed that some of the illustrations matched what had been on the shrine outside. Interested in this, he took some pictures for reference of what to ask about or research for. He could make out some of the Unown script on sight; if he was right, then the god was named Heatran. Boris and Ace kept close to him, waiting for him to be done so they could continue.

He began to wonder how long they had taken going down this tunnel. He had to be back to the school dorms by dark, to turn in the photos and Pokemon. Perhaps when they found a dead end, or the an exit to the volcano... but the stairway kept going.

Eventually, a fiery light appeared at the end of the dark tunnel. Excited to come across that, he encouraged Boris and Ace to go ahead so he could catch at least their silhouettes in the light. But shortly after he took two photos of them, a deep roar filled the tunnel, one strong enough to feel in his bones. Ace got spooked, fluttering back for a moment, then circling around in uncertainty. On the other hand, Boris stepped closer to the light, ears perked forward. The student hurried ahead to where they were, finding an entrance into a much larger chamber. He thought briefly of not going in, but curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he trusted these two Pokemon to stick by him, whether they had to fight something or run from it. They went into the large chamber.

The light was coming from both fire and magma, burning in circular moats at the edge of the room. There was a single pathway that led to a larger version of the shrine outside. While less weathered by age, the stones of the shrine were scorched black by the fires around it. Within the shrine, there was the volcano god that the pictures in the tunnel depicted. It was larger than all three of them together, the student, the Bidoof, and the Anorith. Its back was like a black shell similar to the crust of the volcano's outside. But its underside and four massive legs were glowing red in parts, reminding him of pictures of steel being formed. There was a crack on the right side of its back, with a bubble of red magma forming. Drips of the superheated rock lay near that wound.

Heatran looked over them, wary. It put a foot down gingerly and started to roar again, only to break off into a fit of coughing. Maybe it was old and worn like the volcano itself. The student took a picture of it and its shrine from near the tunnel, then wondered if he could get close enough to use one of the potions on it. Taking out an apple, he said to Ace and Boris, “Try to tell it that we mean no harm, and we can help if it lets us.” Then he tossed the apple towards Heatran.

By the time it stopped bouncing and rolling, it was by the large Pokemon and starting to turn brown from the heat. Heatran snatched it up anyhow, eating it quickly. Ace was still nervous, still fluttering around close to the student's feet. But Boris went ahead fearlessly, calling out a friendly greeting like he gave the other school Pokemon when outside of battle. Heatran looked down at the Bidoof, given some softer sounds in a rough voice. While it looked at the student as he started to approach, it made no aggressive turns or warnings.

The moisture in the potion did hiss as it sprayed against Heatran's open wound. But it still did its job, sealing up the wound quicker and sterilizing away bad germs. As there was some left in the dose, he sprayed it on some rougher looking areas on Heatran's body. Although, what would be an injury and what would be a simple scrape was hard to tell on rougher Pokemon like this. Once that was done, he took out his camera again and got a few shots as Boris managed to convince Ace to come up and greet the old volcano god up close. That certainly had to be a worthy bonus.

“We should be leaving,” he said gently, letting the camera hang off his shoulder again. “I'm sorry if we disturbed you, Heatran.”

To his surprise, he got a response. “You were no bother,” Heatran said. “This bug here is a peculiar creature. Very primitive, even more so than me.” He chuckled, but then coughed again.

“He's from around 10 million years ago,” the student said, recalling the science teacher's lectures. In his mind, his thoughts were all in excitement. How many people got to talk to a Pokemon others considered a god? What should he be asking, or saying? It wasn't an event he'd seriously considered happening to him.

“That explains it,” Heatran said, looking at Ace. “And here I thought I was getting old. Hah, I was just considering how wild I was in my youth. Used to go to the village and demand they send the most beautiful maiden to me as my bride every decade or so. It was mostly to cause them panic and worry, plus see who would be brave enough to come down to face me in combat for her safe return. That was the exciting part; never did like it when nobody came for the girl. It's been a long time since I did that, though. I don't really care for all that these days. I'd be much happier if people simply took better care of the outer shrine.”

“It was in a sorry state,” he agreed.

It stepped closer to him, the glow on its legs dimming. “I did notice that you cleaned it up a little. And then you stumble into my inner shrine, being brave and kind enough to come heal me. With how little the other humans think of me these days, I appreciate even these small things.”

He began to feel nervous again, like when his classmates had been watching him choose the Pokemon he'd take for this challenge. “It was only right. I was going to ask my teachers about the shrine anyhow. I could talk with them and the other students about coming back up there to clean the outer shrine up properly, if you want.”

Bowing down, Heatran replied, “That would be all I want. Now what would you want for this?”

He rubbed his head. “I'm not sure. I, I'm here on a class assignment, and what I do will affect the honor of my classmates as well. Not only that, but I'm new around here too and only a few of them have accepted me as part of their group. At this point, all I need is a picture from the volcano's peak. If I can get out of here and back down the mountain in time to return.”

It seemed amused at that. “That's as simple for me to help you as it was simple for you to help me. Give me a minute and I'll cool my back down enough for you to ride up with me.”

“Wow, really? Thank you.”

“If it gives your class honor and restores mine, it is nothing to do this.” Before long, he was able to pick Ace up and let the Anorith grip Heatran's rocky back with his feet and mandibles. The student then got on with Boris, holding onto the Bidoof and Heatran so that none of them fell off.

And it was quite a ride. Perhaps it was some power Heatran had, but some kind of gravity help keep them on its back while the volcano god climbed straight up the walls of the inner chamber and through a tunnel in the roof. Once they got to a less steep passage, Heatran sped up, quickly passing through rock tunnels and picking passages with no hesitation. It was barely two minutes before they emerged into the open air, then another minute to when they were perched on a wide portion of the rim of the upper crater, at a place no human could reach alone. The student then took several photographs of the landscape, Boris, Ace, and Heatran before taking another fast ride down to the base of the volcano. It was the most thrilling adventure he'd ever had.

With the massive point lead the homeroom got from his part of the school competition, it was easy to convince his classmates and teacher to return to the volcano for a few weekends to restore Heatran's old shrine.

…

Bidoof Diamond entry: With nerves of steel, nothing can perturb it. It is more agile and active than it appears.

Anorith Emerald entry: It was resurrected from a fossil using the power of science. It swims by undulating the eight wings at its sides. They were feet that adapted to life in the sea.

Heatran HG/SS entry: Boiling blood, like magma, circulates through its body. It makes its dwelling place in volcanic caves.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Nice story, but someone should tell the producer that the plot twist is a bit much.

“There's a few, but with the part years' successes, I think we can take a risk on something original. Further work from the researchers indicate that a partnership between a human and Pokemon would meet with a good reception... someone easy to relate to but 'cool', as would be said.”

Shouldn't it say "past" ?

Last edited by pacman000; 14th March 2013 at 8:17 PM.

† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this into your sig if you are too.†

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This story isn't much Irish, but it does have a speck of green to it, so no pinching it!

Actually, this was requested by someone who wanted to see the ClicheStorm version of this Pokemon. But then I didn't do that. This story is actually even closer to canon than CS, in my opinion.

In process: Larvitar/Dwebble
On deck: Seadra

Kyurem

Most of the time, it was here, in a dark cold cavern lying at the end of a large crater. Ice would form in here all through the year due to its presence, but when it was woken, the ice would all melt. Near-freezing water puddled on the floor, causing the footsteps of the visitors to be punctuated with small splashes. “There's no need to be afraid,” a man said. “It's just a shell of a creature shrouded in rumors. Until someone controls Kyurem, it is no danger.”

They called it Kyurem, although there wasn't much point in giving it a specific name. It was just a shell. However, it was a shell to a very powerful Pokemon and it kept a connection to the two minds that had emerged from it. The two minds kept balance with each other. If an imbalance between their power emerged in their homeland of Unova, they would call on it to restore balance. It was a neutral force, taking on aspects of the one which was weakened to set things right. They usually sent a human or Pokemon to it as a hero and guide. Kyurem did what it was told to do.

But, that was to the one who helped correct an imbalance, giving it a purpose. Kyurem tapped into the minds of the two to judge the humans who had come to visit it. Some of them were decent, but not appropriate to be a hero. As for the leader of the group, he was different. He was a force of imbalance, looking for power to change the land but not qualifying as a hero for either of the others. He would cause much suffering if he had a powerful dragon like one of them at his command. So, Kyurem attacked and ate him before the others could try defending their leader.

At first, the others ran away in fear. Then a few grew brave and tried to retaliate. The ice dragon was attacked by several Pokemon, one of which kicked a hole in its side, knocking those scales into its body. An icy mist rapidly spilled out of that wound, quickly freezing the water around it again. Since most of these Pokemon and humans weren't bad, Kyurem bellowed and blasted the whole room with its ice energy. The attack would hurt them, perhaps badly, but it shouldn't kill them like the mist itself would. They retreated to reconsider their attack. But they wouldn't get a chance to try again. The mist was freezing Kyurem over once again, making his hollow body stiff.

It wasn't something to worry about. This always happened. Since Zekrom and Reshiram seemed to have no need for it at the time, Kyurem would be a part of the ice once more. That was how things went. At least, until this time...

It sensed an imbalance first, but Zekrom, the one most obvious, didn't seem worried. Then, without warning, it turned into an absence. Neither Zekrom nor Reshiram were around. That had never happened before. Kyurem wasn't sure what it was supposed to do. At first, it tried to reach out to their minds, find where they were and what they wanted it to do. It couldn't reach them. Perhaps there was a problem.

Perhaps, they had both been destroyed? That shouldn't happen. Zekrom would have been more concerned if it was that. What should be done? Kyurem wasn't used to thinking on its own. It seemed it would have to break out of the ice and locate them, find out what happened. Stirring its body, the dragon began flexing its muscles. Once it got a little bit of room to move, it could break out, absorb the ice back into its body, then head out to search. It could take weeks, but to Kyurem, time didn't matter.

Then more things went wrong. The temperature in the cave near it increase greatly. At that point, the dragon only had a few millimeters of room to work with. It couldn't even open its eyes or smell clearly, but it seemed to be fire from an unfamiliar Pokemon. The ice cracked several times, then broke completely upon impact. “I knew it!” a man's voice said. “There is a third dragon here... keep working! There isn't much time.”

Kyurem tried to get a better idea of what was going on. It was a group of ten humans and five Pokemon, it could smell that. But ice still crusted over its eyes. Not only that, but it was used to a slow process of awakening and breaking out of the ice. At another strike, the ice underneath the dragon was crushed, no longer able to support its weight. But Kyurem was weak right then, not having absorbed the ice back into itself yet. The dragon collapsed onto the floor, breathing in great gasps trying to be ready. These people seemed to have counted on that too. One came right up to him and put a cloth reeking of a heavy scent. Within seconds, Kyurem found itself asleep once more.

When it woke back up, it was no longer in its ice cave. The ice had all been removed, so it could open its eyes and look around at the strange place. It was a bright, filled with many points of electric but steady light. All around the dragon, there was a transparent barrier that easily resisted blows. The entire structure moved steadily, a small up and down motion that took some getting used to.

Another mystery following a troubling absence. Kyurem reached out but again did not sense the minds of Reshiram and Zekrom. However, it did sense something. It didn't even seem to be a mind, for its thoughts were of a strange series of words, numbers, and symbols that could be understood alone but not together. It was connected to two things, one that was on the dragon's body, and one that seemed to be moving. Entering the room.

Kyurem looked and, past the transparent barrier, a man entered from a doorway that moved on its own. He walked with an ornate cane, which seemed to be the other thing connected to its mind. Around his body, he wore a faded black cloak. He used to cane to walk, but once he got in front of the transparent cage, he thumped the cane on the floor hard.

Instantly, the thing that had been placed on Kyurem set off a painful shock into its head. It jerked back. What could be done about that? The thing was on the back of its head, where it might not be able to reach to take it off.

“Good to see you stirring,” the green-haired man said. “I wasn't going to involve you yet, but since that idiot brat failed me,” his voice turned sharply bitter, but he seemed to get control over it quickly, “I had to get you sooner than planned. It was a close call, almost too close. The idiot took Reshiram with him when he cowardly fled his responsibilities, but the other brat...”

His hand clenched the cane and while it didn't hurt Kyurem this time, the dragon could feel a strong connection to the man's barely contained rage. In the past, it had worked with heroes who were aggressive, or even motivated initially by vengeance. Kyurem was often more aggressive than Reshiram or Zekrom in its approach to correcting imbalance, mostly because they called it in when things were truly bad. But this? The dragon wanted to be able to check with their powers to see how this man was devoted to truth or ideals. But that connection could not be made.

The man continued on his rant, pacing now. “I gave him the keys to the power of other legendary Pokemon. Originally I was going to use them as a backup plan. But as long as I can still obtain my original goal, gaining unwavering control over the mythic Tao dragon, I won't need them. They won't be a match for your power, once you are fused with the other two again.”

Fusing them back together... that wasn't supposed to happen, as far as Kyurem know. But the ice dragon did not know much. It depended on the other two and its heroes to know what to do. It was the body... no, not even that. It was the shell with hardly anything of the mind. Reshiram and Zekrom had split the mind. So much so, Kyurem felt no jealousy or anything towards the other two because of it. It felt very little. But, what it felt now, it was different... strange...

“But that boy just held onto them for months,” the man said, clenching his free hand into a fist in front of him. “I didn't want to break our cover by attacking him outright. Then he finally decides to leave with Zekrom towards Sinnoh. Do you know of that place? It is a land very distant from here, where those three legendary dragons are most remembered. Luck can't help him now; he's much too far away to stop me this time. But you know the more important thing about him leaving? With both Reshiram and Zekrom out of the region, I theorized that you would begin to awaken without their powers to constrain you.”

Their powers do not constrain me.

Me?

I don't have an identity. I am a part of them; we are part of a whole. They came from the mind, so they gained identity. I am dependent on them, a balance point between them to keep their powers equal. I am a hollow shell and nothing more, for no mind was left with me.

But... I am alone now. Without them, I cannot depend on their thoughts to know what to do. I must think on my own. And thus, I must... be me.

But who is me?

The man thumped his cane on the floor again, causing another shock in my head. “You will not fail me. You will obey me. And once I have that trained into you completely, I will lure the other two dragons back with your captivity. But that's not where this plan ends, certainly not. I will have the Tao dragon under my command, and thus, the whole world will follow. This time, my plans will not fail.”

That didn't seem like what should happen. I try looking into him as I would through Zekrom and Reshiram's minds. Although I cannot feel them now, I somehow manage it. And this man... he cannot be the hero the guide me. He manipulates truths and corrupts ideals. He doesn't just lead to imbalance, he completely destroys the whole balance. If I could reach him, I should kill him and destroy his body. It wouldn't even be worth it to eat him.

But he both holds me captive and forces me to be independent. I don't know what to do. I would call out to Zekrom and Reshiram, but he says they're far away. They might not hear me.

It's terrifying to be so alone.

…

Kyurem Black entry: It generates a powerful, freezing energy inside itself, but its body became frozen when the energy leaked out.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

I really liked all of the stories you posted, and I really, REALLY liked that Kyurem one. The transition between third- and first-person was handled well, and it made sense since Kyurem was forced to be alone. I never imagined something like that to happen. Great job.

Also, some requests-

Do Seadra with Gothita and Beheeyem.

Spinarak/Bronzor/Snover

Skorupi/Ampharos

Purugly/Huntail/Grumpig

Sharpedo/Camerupt

Hippowdon/Druddigon/Sawk

Karrablast/Galvantula/Eelektross

Cryogonal/Larvesta

Shroomish/Octillery

Sorry if that's a lot to process, but you do only have two other requests.

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

The Dwebble slept contentedly in her rock. Life was good for her. After all, she had this lovely sandstone rock for a shell; it sparkled with tiny quartz crystals, which made her the envy of other lady Dwebbles. She lived in a patch of lovely desert which sand that helped to hide her from predators. Not only that, but the sand itself was tasty and kept her strong. She didn't need to fight much and could spend her days drawing in the sand, relaxed and happy. There was nothing to worry about.

Except maybe those vibrations she felt from her rock shell. The Dwebble stirred from her sleep. It wasn't coming from the ground. Maybe some other Pokemon was trying to wake her up by knocking on her shell? She opened her eyes right as the top of her shell broke with a nasty snap, falling to pieces around her.

“Hu-what?” she exclaimed, shocked into waking fully. She darted a few steps ahead and turned, seeing her prized rock shell all cracked into worthless small pieces. Right behind where she had been sleeping, there was a Pokemon she wasn't familiar with. It had green scales, small arms, and a chunky body. “You, you...”

The green Pokemon seemed to perk up on seeing her. “Momma!” He dropped the piece of rock he'd been eating and ran over to her side.

The Dwebble shuddered in fright; this creature was taller and heavier than she was. He could crush her easily, especially without a shell. And... he thought she was his mother? How, how did that work? She had to look up at him. “I'm n-not your mother. Please don't hurt me.”

Instead of listening, he dropped down onto her. The Dwebble closed her eyes and scrunched up her body, fearing for her life. But even though he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, he seemed to be hugging her, not attacking. “Momma, I find you. I eat all the way up to you.”

Did he mean that he meant to eat her in her rock shell? Or what? Maybe his egg had been buried and he'd eaten through the sand to get up here. That's what her kind did. But, what was he? Still, when he released her, the Dwebble couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the infant. He had obviously been expecting to find his mother up here. Although, if he was this big as an infant, she felt afraid of running across his mother.

Especially without a shell. “Sorry child, but I’m not your mother,” she said gently.

“Not Momma?” he asked sadly, looking down at her with teary eyes.

“Yes, and you ate my home,” she told him. She gave a small shiver. “I don't want to make your real mother angry, but...”

He whined. “Sorry. I eat lots of sand on my way up, but no rocks until that. Was lots hungry.”

“Well you may have the rest of it,” the Dwebble said, relaxing a little. But she couldn't become fully relaxed until she had a shell again. “It's not much use to me. I need to go find a new rock so I can be safe. Um...” but what did she do about this baby? She wasn't sure how well he could defend himself and some Pokemon around here loved to battle (she hid from them most of the time). Then again, she wouldn't like meeting his mother.

The green Pokemon made a barking sound, momentarily startling the Dwebble. “I help! We find rock for you. Um, where rocks?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Dwebble pointed one of her claws to where she had found her last rock. “Over there, there's a rock wall with piles of loose rock at the edges. Thanks for helping me out.”

“I do good thing to make up for bad thing,” he said, then walked alongside her to reach the rocky area of the desert.

Once there, the baby seemed interested in finding rocks to eat, but he always pointed various ones out for her first. He didn't quite grasp that she needed one big enough to hide in, but not so big that she couldn't move it around when needed. He even pointed out the rock wall itself. “Nobody hurt you with that!”

The Dwebble found herself chuckling at that. “It would be quite a personal fortress, but I don't think I'll ever be strong enough to have that for a shell.”

They searched for a while, but weren't haven't much luck. Much of the rock pieces were too small. While she was disappointed that she probably couldn't find another quartz embedded piece, right now just finding a shell to be safe again was her priority. Once she had one, then she might consider looking for a pretty rock again. But then a roar pieced through the sand-filled air, shaking the Dwebble through her entire body. That had to come from a powerful Pokemon, and now she could feel its heavy footsteps through the sand.

“Who that?” the baby asked.

Despite her feeling of dread, the Dwebble snapped one of her claws and spoke up. “Whoever you are, if you're out to hurt this child, I'll stop you.” Probably not very well, but maybe she could buy enough time for the child to find a place to hide. Then she could dig into the sand to wait for the stranger to leave.

The footsteps drew closer and the Pokemon appeared through the sandy air. It was huge, with even its feet larger than the Dwebble. But more importantly, it was green and scaly just like the baby. In fact, he took a few steps closer to it. “Momma? That you?”

“There you are,” the enormous Pokemon said, coming up to them. “Yes, it's me, little son. It seems you got lost underground.”

“Momma!” The baby rushed over to her and hugged her leg.

The mother Pokemon leaned down, spooking the Dwebble into drawing her body in defensively again. However, she spoke with no aggression. “Don't be afraid, tiny one. Thank you for looking out for him I hope he didn't trouble you much.”

Phew, she wasn't mad. “N-no, he was good,” she said. “Um, he has a kind heart already. He should be a good child.”

She was pleased to hear that. “Is that so? That's wonderful. You should thank the lady here.”

The baby Pokemon hopped back toward the Dwebble. “Uh, I was! I help her find new rock shell to live in. But no good rocks for her.”

“I can help with that,” the mother said. “Stay where you are, both of you.” She then took a step away, then rammed her head into the rock wall. Many pieces broke off from the impact, kicking up a lot of dust and sand. The mother Pokemon then plucked out a piece and tossed it over to them. “How's that?”

Not only was it of good size, but it had quartz sparkles just like her last rock. Even better, there was a smoky white crystal poking out of one side. “That's beautiful, thank you. It will make a great home.”

“Good!” the baby said, then giving her another hug. “I go with Momma now. Thank you, lady! I be good always now.”

Once he let her go, the Dwebble tapped him with her claw. “You're welcome, child. I hope you get a great home too.”

The baby Larvitar and the mother Tyranitar then headed off for their proper home. The Dwebble waved to them while they were in sight, then focused on her new shell. While it would take a little while to melt away a proper hold for her, it was always worth it to have a beautiful shell to live in.

…

Larvitar Soul Silver entry: It is born deep underground. It can't emerge until it has entirely consumed the soil around it.

Dwebble White entry: It makes a hole in a suitable rock. If that rock breaks, the Pokemon remains agitated until it locates a replacement.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Wow, it's been a really long hiatus for this project! Well, comparatively so. And here I was all eager to try getting the rest of the 'dex done by the time X and Y came around. Lots of little stuff happened, though.

Maybe the length of this story makes up for the wait? Or, maybe that I'm done with Kanto finally! Hooray!

Actually, if I could get the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Pokemon covered by October-ish, I'd be satisfied with that.

What have you been doing? It shouldn't have taken you this much time to establish a base.

Sorry, sir. I met with some locals and... it got a little out of hand.

How so?

I think it's best if I just show you.

-+-

There was junk in the ocean currents, in the form of large pieces of metal. The Sharpedo grabbed hold of one with his teeth and tried to rip it apart. Strangely, this metal was tougher than he usually encountered, only breaking off at an already weak point. His teeth throbbed with pain, but he shook it off and let go of the junk. Then he swam to the center of the currents. Along the way, other Sharpedoes joined him.

In the center of the chaos, there was a furious Seadra, glowering up at a shadow on the surface of the water. The sea water swirled around her still, remnants of her whirlpool. As the Sharpedoes approached her, she looked over them, then snorted. “And what brings the crowd here, huh? Coming to find chaos?”

“You could say that,” he said. He grinned, showing off his shiny sharp teeth. “Need any help?”

The Seadra grumbled for a little while, then patted her body with her fins. “As much as I hate to admit that my power isn't enough, I hate leaving that boast go by unchallenged more. So yes, if you could help with this boat overhead.”

“What boast?” the Sharpedo asked.

“Some silly little 'mon thinks too highly of the humans. See...”

-+-

The Seadra owned a patch of seawater and she demanded respect from everyone that passed through. She fought off other Pokemon until they admitted that she was the best in the sea; she changed currents so that the human boats avoided her territory to avoid being sunk. For years, she had proven her authority and power. But now there was a human boat that completely ignored her currents. It just plowed right through her territory and she hated it for not respecting her.

Leaping out of the water, she was able to get onto the ship and look around. It was larger than most boats she had sunk, but it was made of wood so that shouldn't matter much. Also, it had a huge wheel on the back which she'd never seen on a boat before. Still, she should be able to catch this in a big enough whirlpool. The humans on board needed to know who was responsible, so that they knew who to respect.

Close to where she had boarded, she spotted an unusual pair of Pokemon. It seemed like a pair of land-based Pokemon, or maybe only one of them. The one seemed rather human-like, a small pigtailed Pokemon with a black dress and white bows (which seemed natural to her). However, the other one might have been air-based due to the fact that he was hovering in the air. He had no wings, though, also being human-like; his body was smaller than his tall head and his hands had three odd glowing fingers.

“Hiiii!” the girl Pokemon said, looking at the Seadra with her large black eyes. “Did you come up to visit?”

“No, I came up because you're all invading my water,” the Seadra said, spreading her fins out proudly. “Why don't you tell your humans to get out, you.... whatever you are?”

She laughed. “Can't talk to humans, nope, not me. And me, I'm a Gothita. You must be a Seadra.” The Gothita blinked her eyes slowly.

On the other fin, the hovering Pokemon brought his fingers up, making them twinkle and flash in different colors. The Seadra braced herself for an attack, but none came. She narrowed her eyes at him. “What was that for?”

The Gothita swayed in place. “He says, um, that we shouldn't worry about him. He's a Beheeyem.”

“He didn't say anything!”

“Yes he did. See, it's like this.”

-+-

There were a lot of things to see on the boat, nearly all human-made, all of it interesting to study. Mamie the Gothita wanted to study it all. As soon as she was released on board, she began walking around to look at things. The floorboards, the rails, the paddle, the paddle's gears, the posts, the lifeboats, the anchor, the sailors... so much to see! Before long, she had wandered away from her Trainer. Not that Mamie minded. If her Trainer really wanted her, then the Trainer would find Mamie.

The skies darkened and the lights of the boat came on, calling on moths to be interesting to watch. But before long, Mamie found something even more interesting to watch: a Pokemon she had never seen before. He was a psychic like herself, floating around on a quiet part of the boat and studying things too. Happy to find a kindred soul, the Gothita ran over and looked at the newcomer. “Hiiii! I don't remember seeing you on this boat before.”

Startled, he brought his thin arms up to his face. They looked at each other for a full minute, then the stranger moved his fingers, changing the colors they glowed. Behind those motions, there was a psychic message. 'Don't mind me. I mean you creatures no harm.'

“I don't either, even in battle,” Mamie replied.

'What?' he said, puzzled.

She laughed and spread her arms out, swaying cutely. “That's how it is, isn't it? Battles are to challenge each other, but not to harm more than temporarily. So, what're you doing?”

'Strange,' he said. Her put his hands on the sides of his head briefly, then returned to his light talking. 'I guess I could tell you.'

-+-

Nearly a hundred years ago, at least by the time kept on this particular planet, a small colony ship of their kin had been lost in the area of this solar system. Space travel wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't quick, so it was only now that they were able to get a search team out to figure out what happened. They had checked surrounding planets, but only this one was sustaining life and the others showed no signs of a colony. But with all the technology and life on this planet, picking out a signal or sign was difficult.

M'del was chosen to scout out the surface, looking for an inconspicuous spot to set up a camp so they could make a closer search. He was also checking for information about local civilizations and any survivors or descendants of the original colonists. For that, he might need to speak with the natives. He needed to do so carefully, but he could handle things so that they would hardly remember him.

He arrived at the surface over a body of water. Underneath the surface, he could feel a great many life forms. He wasn't sure how many would be intelligent, though. But there was proof of intelligent life, within sight even. There was a boat traveling across the salt water, with a big paddle wheel behind it and white steam coming from tall chimneys. Curious to see how far the technology went, M'del went over to check it out.

The whole thing seemed efficient, so such boats had been in use for some time he would guess. He tried to avoid the passengers; the night seemed to keep most of them inside. However, one small female creature approached him without his notice. She seemed quite friendly, if odd to his thinking. She introduced herself as Mamie, a passenger, so he told her that he was searching for a quiet place to stay (although not entirely what his mission was). While she didn't recognize his kind, she did inform him that there were two major groups of intelligent beings: the Pokemon, which she was and she mistook him for, and the humans, which were apparently the more advanced and intelligent, but physically weaker. And there were many kinds of Pokemon in the world. Perhaps the colony had merged as one of them?

While Mamie seemed positive (save for battles being some kind of game due to human intervention), the second Pokemon that M'del met was not. It was an aquatic one with blue scales and bony fins. This Seadra claimed that the boat was trespassing on her territory. After Mamie introduced them without a care, the Seadra continued on her threat. “I don't care what your names are,” she said. “Names don't matter. What matters is power, and I have the power to sink this boat.”

“Are you sure?” Mamie asked. “This is a steam-powered paddle-boat, top of the line too. Nothing's gonna sink it.”

The Seadra snorted. “Steam? Steam's not a real power. Water is power. Let me show you.” she then jumped back into the water.

'This might be trouble,' M'del said. Not necessarily for him; he could hover and if things got really bad, he could ask for a teleport out to the ship. But he didn't like leaving the passengers and crew of this boat to suffer a needless show of pride.

-+-

“Oh, no no no, this is gonna be fun to watch,” Mamie said, clapping her hands while M'del worried. “She's a wild Pokemon, so she's not gonna be as powerful as she could be. Still, a whirlpool might be interesting.”

'You and the others might be in danger,' the Beheeyem pointed out, literally pointing out to the water at the end of his statement.

“It's fine. I'm sure the crew is prepared. Watch.” She hopped up on the railing and looked to the water to see it start to move. Not yet, but in a little while... a little while that she had to question the stranger again. “How'd you come here? Flying over the sea?”

'Flying through space,' he said, somewhat absentmindedly as he watched the sea as well.

Widening her eyes, the Gothita looked up at him. “Whaaaat, really? You flew in from space? Cool! Where's your spaceship?”

His lights stuttered for a little bit, then he put his hands to his face before replying. 'I didn't mean to say that. But, you seem to know a little about it. Odd; you'll have to tell me more. My spaceship is in orbit at the moment; you might be able to see its lights, if you can distinguish them from the stars.'

“Wow, I wanna see it!” Mamie looked up to the dark night sky, eager to see this real spaceship far over their heads.

-+-

Back in the cool sea waters, the Seadra grumbled to herself as she swam ahead. Nothing could sink that boat, huh? They would see about that. And, running on steam? That was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. After all, there were Water and Ice Pokemon, but what about Steam Pokemon? Right, there were absolutely none, meaning that steam was a worthless power. It wouldn't be hard to sink this paddleboat.

Once she found a good position, the Seadra began spinning rapidly, pulling the water currents into following her. A whirlpool quickly formed, changing the nature of the surface. Overhead, the waves would be sinking around her location, pulling the boat into a dangerous tilt and breaking its structure. Most boats would sink within minutes.

Not this time. The paddleboat did change how it was traveling, but under its own power to skirt the edges of the whirlpool. A few items did get knocked into the water as a result of the change, mostly some wooden and metal crates. But her target, the boat itself, was unharmed.

The Seadra felt furious and embarrassed. Why hadn't this boat sank? Steam power shouldn't be that strong. And it was bigger than the other boats, but in the end, the power of water should be enough to overcome any boat. Maybe if she tried again, but spent longer making sure the whirlpool was at its peak of power...

While she was considering that, a group of Sharpedos approached her. They had been drawn to the currents and, most likely hoping for easy prey, offered to help her take down the boat. Once she explained about the situation, the main talker of their group said, “Of course they should respect the waters, especially those belonging to you. How about you bring up another whirlpool? While it's going, we'll ram into the underside of that boat. That should bring it down.”

“Right,” the Seadra said, considering how her currents would help the Sharpedos go even faster than usual. “We need to get ahead of them so that they'll come right into it. Let's put this plan in motion.”

-+-

Normally, the Sharpedo left the Seadra alone. She was the most powerful Pokemon in these waters and quick to pick a fight that she most often won. However, the idea of attacking a human boat and using a powerful whirlpool to do so was too tempting. He and the others began to ride the currents, finding positions form which to best strike.

The spiral currents quickly came to life, pulling him along the funnel. By propelling himself just right, he was able to shoot right through them and at the boat, which was trying to steer away from the center of the whirlpool. Not only that, but he was the first one to do so. A grin formed on his face... that is, until he saw what was on the bottom of the boat.

“SPIKES!” he shouted, trying to warn his kin. It was too late for him; no matter how much jetting he tried to do, he careened right into the spikes protecting the bottom of the boat. While it shuddered to his strike, his body also throbbed from the impact. His tough scales deflected most of them, but a few still punctured painfully into his skin. He pulled himself off and swam to the side of the boat.

When he looked up, he saw a small female Pokemon standing on the boat's railing, staring up at the sky. Was that the one the Seadra spoke of, the one who had total confidence in the humans? She had some right to be, what with the defensive spikes under there. Still, it made him mad. She wasn't even concerned about the whirlpool.

“Don't be so cocky!” he yelled. “The proud Pokemon of the Water can still defeat you!” He rammed himself into the side of the boat, hoping to knock her off.

Not only did it not work for that, but it didn't even get her attention. She kept staring at the sky. Instead, a brown Pokemon floated overhead. On seeing him, the strange Pokemon fired a bright beam of light.

-+-

You attacked a native?

They were trying to damage that boat, sir. And, my attack didn't even do anything to him.

It did nothing? What kind of defenses do they have?

Mamie said that it was a Dark type, which somehow nullifies some attacks against it. She told me so after the sea Pokemon had given up their attack, once the ship's crew Pokemon went after them. She was so focused on trying to see our ship that she didn't even notice the battles around her. Just from that, I knew that this world must be full of other strange things that we know nothing about.

True. Did you take the memories of those who spoke with you? We don't want to cause a disturbance.

I know. The Seadra, the humans, and some of the other Pokemon were pretty easy to make them forget me. But the Sharpedo and the Gothita, those two were really hard. It seems like we don't fully understand our own powers.

That's impossible, M'del.

No it's not. Not at all. It's the truth.

…

Sharpedo fifth gen entry: Its fangs rip through sheet iron. It swims at 75 mph and is known as 'The Bully of the Sea'.

Seadra Sapphire entry: Seadra generates whirlpools by spinning its body. The whirlpools are strong enough to swallow even fishing boats. This Pokemon weakens prey with these currents, then swallows it whole.

Gothita B2/W2 entry: It stares at everything. It can become so obsessed with watching that it doesn't notice attacks.

Beheeyem Black entry: It can manipulate an opponent's memory. Apparently, it communicates by flashing its three different colored fingers.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

This was supposed to be a vacation, but Bugsy the Spinarak didn't like it one bit. It was cold, the snow made his colors stand out, there were so many humans tromping around in boots, and the only warm place was one that had a lot of fireplaces. However, he never got a say in the matter when his Trainer decided to take them on a skiing trip. He never got a say in anything, mostly because he was a Pokemon incapable of telepathy or articulating human words. That was especially unpleasant when his Trainer decided that he wanted to fly on top of a frisbee.

This was it, he decided. He was getting the bad end of this training deal and he'd rather escape back to his old forest home. Bugsy waited for his Trainer to get distracted in talking to other humans, then hustled along the snowy slope to reach a rocky area. While his colors would still stick out in the gray and white, there were at least things to hide behind there. He got there and looked around, still seeing the humans. Not far enough away. He headed for the trees.

Although it was cold and snowy, the trees here were full of green. Needles though, not leaves. Still, it was a forest and thus a place he liked much better than human towns. Bugsy walked until the tips of his legs began to feel numb. Since he didn't want to freeze, it would be best to find a tree to hole up in for a little while. Tie some needles together to make a small space for warmth, make a web to catch a little food, then head down the mountain once he had more energy. That seemed like a good plan.

Many of the trees were tall, but he came across one that was short. Although it wasn't even as tall as his Trainer, this one was wide, thick with needles. That seemed like a good place, so he climbed to the middle and looked for good branches to start a small web from.

The tree was oddly warm for this snowy mountain, but he didn't think much of it until it shook itself vigorously. “Huh, who's there?” a nearby Pokemon voice said.

The tree whirled around, making Bugsy dizzy. He had barely managed to keep his grip with his too-cold legs; only the thread he'd been spinning kept him on. Securing himself in place, he said, “J-just a spider. Don't mind me.”

“What's a spider?” The tree raised its two largest branches, reaching back but not quite touching him.

“Someone who should be in a warmer place,” he said. “Sorry, are you a Pokemon? I thought you were a tree.”

“I am a tree! And a Pokemon!” It laughed. “Are you a Pokemon too? I wish I could see you, but you're on my back.'

“Yeah, I'm a Pokemon,” Bugsy said. “I was just trying to warm up. This place is much too cold for me; I should've left when we were at the bottom of the mountain, but my patience has run out.”

“I don't go to the bottom of mountain much,” the tree said. “I'm a Snover, we live for the snow! I've been traveling to lots of different peaks lately. I guess it would be different to visit the bottom once in a while.”

“If you could do that, I'd be grateful,” he said.

The Snover swayed, making Bugsy feel ill. “Okay! But if you should live in warm places, what are you doing up near the peak?”

“My Trainer brought me here.”

“What's a Trainer?”

Bugsy brushed his front legs over his eyes in disbelief, immediately regretting it as that made his head cold. “Don't you know? They're humans who train Pokemon.”

“What's a human?”

“They're...” He rubbed his front legs together while his thread was keeping him on the Snover. He couldn't barely feel them. “Well, they're not Pokemon. They're not even that strong on their own. But they can do all sorts of things that Pokemon can't, especially making things. They're kind of mysterious that way, even if they're all over the place.”

“I've never seen a human,” the Snover said. “They sound so awesome! Where are they?”

Without really thinking about it, Bugsy answered, “Well there's a group of them with their machines not too far from here, off in the direction I'm facing.”

Bugsy gripped on tight in fright. He was trying to get away from them, not go to them! When he started to protest, the Snover slid to a stop as he'd arrived right at the ski lift's drop-off zone. The Spinarak climbed up to the top of the Snover, to look around and see who was there. Thankfully, his Trainer didn't seem to be around. Instead, there was a group of teenagers and adults talking and laughing together, preparing the head down the mountain on their skis and snowboards. Some of the boards were sitting on this flat area of snow, waiting to be ridden.

Flailing its arms around in excitement, the Snover hopped over to the humans. “Wow, you're funny looking creatures! Why do you have so many different colors, different from each other? What's all that metal stuff with the branches overhead? What're you doing? Who are you all?”

“What a cute Pokemon,” one of the teen girls said, coming over to pet the Snover with her gloved hands. “He's even got a little passenger.”

“Huh, I wonder what this one is doing here,” one of the adults said. “We've had reports that Snover can be found on other mountains, but we've not had any show up here.”

“I'm traveling,” the Snover said. “And I want to know all about you!”

“Um, the humans can't understand Pokemon,” Bugsy said.

“Whoa, really?” it asked, twisting a little in trying to find him.

“Right, that's one of the mysterious things about them,” he said.

“All right, you all better start heading down before this place gets too crowded,” one of the adults said.

“We can walk with them to the bottom to get you to warm places,” Snover said, watching as the humans finished checking their gear.

“They're not going to walk,” Bugsy said.

“Then how're they...?” the Snover started to ask. Then a few of the teenagers started heading down the slope on their skis and snowboards. “Wow, that looks fun! I wanna try!”

“You probably shouldn't,” Bugsy said, but it was too late. The Snover was already running for the slope. Jumping on one of the unclaimed snowboards, its momentum carried them both over the edge and down the slope.

The snowboard picked up speed alarmingly fast, causing the trees to sweep by in a green and white blur. The Snover started flailing its limbs again; the snowboard swerved in response. Being more careful, the tree Pokemon started leaning back and forth. “I can control it, wheee!”

Afraid of what would happen to him if he jumped, Bugsy crouched down, shuffling needles aside to get secure. “This is making me sick,” he murmured.

“We need to go faster!” the Snover said, twisting its body around to figure it out. By scrunching down and leaning its trunk forward, it managed to do just that.

Bugsy looked ahead, hoping the end of the slope would be in view. But no, what he saw was worse. Right in their path, there was a large pile of snow flanked by two large pine trees. Was there a rock there? “WE'RE GONNA DIE!”

“Wheee!” The Snover guided the snowboard right between the trees, causing them to hit the snow pile. However, the side they hit was angled just enough for them to slide right over the snow and high into the air. The winter sun flashed like a lens flare and there seemed to be nothing stopping them from crashing right into the ground to get smashed to a pulp of needles and spider legs.

Somehow, that didn't happen. The Snover managed to land the snowboard in order to keep zooming down the slope. Fearing another close call, Bugsy shut his compound eyes and tried to bury himself in the Snover's needles. They might just be soft enough to cushion his fall if something terrible happened.

After a few more terrifying minutes, the Snover turned wide one last time and tumbled backwards, laughing with mirth. Bugsy found himself squashed between a tree and snow, something he hadn't ever thought might happen. He dug frantically through the snow, trying to get himself free. Sticking to that Snover had been a mistake. He popped out into the sunlight, breathing a sigh of relief that the ordeal was over.

“Bugsy, what're you doing there?” a familiar voice called. His Trainer was leaning overhead, grabbing hold of him with damp gloves before he could think to run. He was much too cold to go fast anyhow. “Did you make a new friend? I saw him jumping that ramp; he's got to be the most awesome Pokemon I've seen!”

“Yay!” the Snover said, raising its limbs high.

Bugsy groaned, giving up for now. “I'll get away from this madness, someday...”

…

Snover Diamond entry: It lives on snowy mountains. Having had little contact with humans, it is boldly inquisitive.

Spinarak Soul Silver entry: It spins a web with fine – but durable – thread. It then waits patiently for prey to be trapped.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Her ears picked up vibrations in the sand, the first sound besides the wind that she'd heard in many moons. Steady regular crunches of the red sand, it was something walking on two feet. Too big to eat all at once. Still, it was another coming this way and hope that she'd get food before she starved.

It was strange. Normally, the desert was quiet until the rain came. Then life would burst out: plants blooming, insects buzzing, Pokemon stirring. After a few days, all would settle into quiet again. But it had been a long time since the last rain. She needed to eat again.

Since this was the first creature to be moving in the desert in a long time, she waited and watched. It was night with a sliver of silver moon in the sky. Close to the ground, she saw three yellow orbs, glowing and swaying. Sometimes the outer two disappeared for a second, while the middle was blocked by someone regularly.

Then she heard the sounds that she hadn't heard in a long time: voices speaking words. “Still no signs of the villagers. It's so dark tonight; are you sure this is the right way?”

A matching metallic voice said, “Yes, according to the map, there should be a watchtower out this way. It'll be tall enough that we can send a signal over the dunes.”

Then a third voice, different from the other two. “The night's dark enough that I might not need your assistance.”

“It will cut down on the chance for interception.”

“Fine.”

Words, with meaning. They triggered memories in her mind, from when she was young. From a time when she spoke. She used to live in a village near the oasis with many other Pokemon. Working together, they kept a good supply of food and water no matter when it rained. There was no need to lie in the sand, waiting for prey to come to her. There was cooperation and happiness. Being here like this, only thinking about hunting, the rains, and the sand, this wasn't like her. But she had been here for many moons, so why?

The three Pokemon were closer now, enough that she could make them out. The one walking was an Ampharos, using the ball on the end of his tail as a light source. Beside him, there were two Bronzor, floating over the sands. Their bodies were well polished, enough that they reflected the Ampharos' light clearly. They all seemed strong and healthy.

Hoping that they were nice too, she carefully pulled herself out of hiding, trying not to expend more energy than she needed. Then she called out to them, her voice rough from disuse and lack of water. “D-d-d-d...”

“There IS someone here,” the Ampharos said, changing his pace to find her.

“Careful,” one of the Bronzor said, following.

“Do you have a-any food t-to share?” she asked.

“Sure, not a problem,” the Ampharos said, opening a bag at his side and pulling out a large apple. “Here you go.”

Without even a question? “Thanks,” she said meekly, then gripped the apple in her claws and devoured it. It was surprisingly fresh and so juicy, smelling like a gift from heaven. Maybe it was how long she'd been without, but it was the best tasting apple she'd ever had.

“Hungry?” one of the Bronzor asked jokingly when she was finished.

“Sorry,” she said. “I haven't eaten since the last rain, and it hasn't rained in a very long time. Were you looking for the watchtower? It's just over here, I’ll show you.” She headed that way, still careful with her movements.

“Yeah, the watchtower will help,” the Ampharos said. “Miss Skorupi, do you know what happened to the village at the oasis? We came since we've heard nothing for almost a year now.”

“I'm not sure,” she said. “I hardly remembered up until I heard you three talking; couldn't even think at all.”

“Then it is like the other lost villages,” one of the Bronzor said.

The Ampharos agreed. “Yes, all the Pokemon living in those places went wild overnight. We'll just have to find the villagers and help them recover.”

“I don't know if that's possible,” she said, feeling a little sick realizing it. “Very little has moved or made a sound, since it's been a long time since the last rain. My kin were originally great survivors... maybe the only reason I'm still alive. I don't know how many we can find.”

“She may be right,” the other Bronzor said. “We haven't felt much life out this way.”

“It certainly happened before the town of Goldsand,” the other agreed. “What do you remember?”

“Sorry, I still need some time to think about that,” she said. “Um, here's the tower.” She looked at the stone steps that led up to the top. “I, I worked here, I think. The gate's not even shut.” She headed up.

The Ampharos climbed with her while the two Bronzor floated up to the top. With such a small moon out, the sands of the desert soon blended into the darkness. She saw a darkened torch standing at one corner, reminding her that there were other torches on the tower and around the village. Maybe they had all gone wild and there was no one able to think well enough to consider lighting the torches. She certainly wasn't capable of crafting fire as a Skorupi.

At the top, she found some slimmer stairs that led up to a low safety wall. By using footholds on the wall, she was able to climb up top, as her low body stance made it hard to see over the wall otherwise. “Yes, I definitely worked here,” she said, noticing how familiar the tiny stairs and footholds were.

“Were you working here when the village went feral?” the Ampharos asked, leaning against the wall. “Huh, can't even see the village from here.”

“You could if the torches were lit,” she said. “Um, let me think.”

“You might want to go over to that corner if you're staying on the wall,” one of the Bronzor advised. “We need to send a light signal.”

“Okay.” she backed up and watched them.

“Celestial signs and earthly position assessed,” the other Bronzor said. “Direction of Watchtower 357 to Watchtower 019 discovered. Brother, I've got the deflection angles.” He floated closer to the other and told him a series of complicated numbers.

The Ampharos jumped onto the base of the large torch that used to burn on top of the tower. Charred sticks crumbled under his feet as he dropped down on all fours. “Whenever you two are ready.”

After the numbers were confirmed, the two Bronzor went behind the Ampharos, positioning themselves precisely. The Ampharos then caused a series of bright flashes from his tail orb, all in a brilliant yellow-white. Reflected by the polished steel, his beacon powered through the darkness. She could even see glimpses of the desert, in a thin trail underneath the beam. It took a minute to get through his coded message.

They waited for a little while in the darkness until another flash of light appeared on the horizon. She couldn't quite interpret the message. Thinking on that made her realize that she hadn't been working on the tower as a watcher for very long. Certainly not long enough to learn the light signals.

“What are the chances that there were survivors?” the Ampharos asked after the return message was complete.

“If there are any, they would probably be near the oasis because of the water,” she said.

“I really doubt there's other survivors at this point,” one of the Bronzor said. “We didn't even feel life near the water.”

“What do we do about her?”

“Um, could I go with you, back to where you come from?” she asked. “Maybe if I have a few days, I can remember things better. And, if there is no one else here, not even any creatures to eat, I'd rather not stay and end up going wild again.”

“That would be for the best,” the other Bronzor said. “You're welcome to come with us.”

“As long as you don't slow us down,” the Ampharos asked.

“I’ll try to keep up, but I still need to get my energy up,” she said.

“We'll look around just in case. Go ahead and tell them we'll start heading back tomorrow night.”

While the Ampharos went back to messaging the other tower, the Skorupi wondered if it was right for her to leave. She had a feeling that the oasis village was her home, a peaceful and friendly place. But they said the village was empty and she hardly remembered it. If she remained just because of the feeling, she might end up dying anyhow.

When she remembered her family and neighbors, she should return here to pay her respects. For now, it looked better to live on and figure out what happened with these travelers.

…

Bronzor B/W entry: There are researchers who believe this Pokemon reflected like a mirror in the distant past.

Ampharos Soul Silver entry: The bright light on its tail can be seen from far away. It has been treasured since ancient times as a beacon.

Skorupi B2/W2 entry: It lives in arid regions and can go without food for a year while waiting for prey.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!